Europe’s plastics industry continues its recovery

Global – World production of plastic materials increased by almost 4% from 311 million tonnes in 2014 to 322 million tonnes the following year.

The European plastics industry ranks second in the world production league table with its stable market share of around 18% reflecting the continuation of its recovery phase, according to industry body PlasticsEurope. China remains the world’s largest producer with a market share of more than 27%.

European plastics demand amounted to 49 million tonnes last year. Plastics producers have benefited from a recovery in customer industries such as the packaging sector which accounts for almost 40% of total demand, building & construction (around 20%) and the automotive sector (nearly 9%). The European country with the highest demand is Germany with approximately 25% of the total, followed by Italy on more than 14% and France on almost 10%.

In 2015, the European plastics industry has maintained a positive trade balance of more than Euro 16.5 billion. For plastics producers, top export trading partners by value outside the EU were Turkey on more than 13%, China on around 12% and the USA on almost 12%. The main import partners outside the EU were the USA with approximately 25%, Saudi Arabia with around 13% and South Korea with more than 12%. According to PlasticsEurope’s president Patrick Thomas, 2016 has been ‘a year of positive growth’ for the European plastics industry. ‘Nevertheless, in order to achieve future growth, Europe must put in place appropriate measures to ensure its competitiveness,’ he goes on to say.

In 2014, almost 26 million tonnes of post-consumer plastic waste ended up in official waste streams (+1% year on year). Almost 70% was recovered through recycling and energy recovery processes while around 30% was consigned to landfill.