European masterbatch | markets
following the end of production in the UK in 2009, Cabot’s European production of masterbatch now only takes place in Belgium. The company’s strategy is now geared towards developing its global business fully inte- grated with its carbon black operations. It opened a plant in Dubai late in 2010 and is building a 45,000 tonnes/year plant in Tianjin province, China, which is expected on stream later this year.
Europe in a global context Discussing the global trends for the industry and what these mean for Europe, Reynolds told delegates that global masterbatch demand increased by 8.5% in 2010. This was driven mainly by the strong growth seen in Asia, particularly China and India, and the growing emergence of the Middle East. In Europe demand was driven by the recovery of the
losses incurred in 2008 and 2009, assisted by various government stimulus packages. Europe accounted for around 20% of the global market in 2010, whereas 10 years ago its share was closer to 30%, indicating the extent the market has grown in the rest of the world. The industry in Europe is increasingly approaching maturity in many of its applications and is forecast to grow by around 3% per annum over the next five years. The market will continue to be mainly driven by developments in polyolefin processing, but more and more engineering polymer applications are also switching to masterbatch. Shortages of pigments and colorants will help drive a trend towards transparency in certain packaging and household goods markets. According to research that AMI has undertaken on
the European masterbatch market, demand for 2010 reached just over 830,000 tonnes. For the first time AMI is including Russia and the non-EU East European countries such as Belarus, Ukraine and the countries of the former Yugoslavia in its analysis of Europe. These non-EU Central and Eastern European countries (CEE) have seen particularly strong growth in recent years and are estimated to account for a total of 7% of the overall European demand. Germany continues to dominate the masterbatch
industry in Europe, accounting for nearly 20% of demand in 2010, followed by Italy which still accounts for 17% of demand. According to AMI’s analysis, the structure of demand
is split roughly 70% standard products and 30% customised. Standard products tend to be mainly used for film and fibre applications, whereas customised products are mainly used in moulding applications. The trend, however, is for customer-specified business to grow in preference to standardised products. The importance of customised versus standard
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Figure 2: european demand For masterbatch 2010
products varies by masterbatch type as well. As might be expected, a higher proportion of the market for colour masterbatch is accounted for by customised products (45%). Additive masterbatch demand is also divided roughly 50/50 between standard and custom products, whereas white and black masterbatches are more commodity items.
Concluding thoughts Although AMI considers the outlook for European masterbatch demand to be good, the hiatus of the past few years has created a more unstable and difficult environment in which the industry has to operate. Issues around raw material price volatility and availabil- ity is straining supplier/customer relationships. Rising prices are a challenge at a time when cost reduction is a key driver in the marketplace and more than ever masterbatch producers need to be closely attuned to the needs of their customers. The European industry must also realise it is
operating in a global environment where the trends and developments within the plastics processing industry will increasingly be driven by Asia and the energy-rich regions that are likely to become the centres for new polymer production. Substantial opportunity will exist for those players
that can operate in this global context and understand the changing needs of customers. The truly successful will be those that can nimbly define and redefine their product offering and “expect the unexpected”.
l This article was first published inCompounding World, a sister publication to Injection World, and is based on information presented at AMI’s Masterbatch 2011 conference. For further information visit
www.amiplastics.com or contact Andrew Reynolds:
apr@amiplastics.com
January/February 2012 | InJECTIon WoRlD 15
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