markets | European polymer demand
European polymer producers showed effective inventory management as demand weakened once again in 2012. Photo: BASF Ludwigshafen
Where did it hurt? Unsurprisingly the drop in polymer demand was most severe in southern Europe, where the eurozone crisis has been at its most intense. Collectively polymer consumption in Spain, Italy and Greece contracted by 4% and these three countries have lost nearly 25% of their market in volume terms since 2007. Unfortunately, there seems little prospect of things changing anytime soon and these countries continue to see cutbacks in production throughout the value chain, from polymers to fi nished manufactured goods. The downturn in Spain and Italy resulted in particu-
larly steep falls in demand in the consumer goods and electrical appliances sector and in production of disposables. This pulled down polystyrene demand and contributed to the market for this material being the weakest of all the polymers in 2012. In addition to reduced production in key end use segments for polystyrene, the material also remains under pressure from PET and PP in food packaging applications. PVC is another material which seems to be in a process of long-term decline, with demand for 2013
European polymer demand by resin, 2013. Total: 36.5 million tonnes
expected to be 1.5 million tonnes less than it was in 2007. The ongoing economic uncertainty across Europe continues to deter investment in construction markets, which is particularly painful for PVC as 70% of its demand is accounted for by building-related applications (most notably in the production of window frames, pipes, cable, and fl ooring). Polymer demand from the automotive sector was
weakened by an 8% fall in European car production in 2012 that, twinned with weak demand from logistics and general manufacturing, led to a contraction in demand for polypropylene and several engineering polymers.
Reasons to be cheerful LL/LDPE
Engineering Plastics
HDPE PET
Germany, which is the engine of the European economy and plays a similar leading and trend defi ning role in the chemicals and plastic industry, has been the strongest of the western European markets. Although demand was down marginally in 2012, current market demand is only fractionally off the levels of 2007. This tells us two things: fi rstly, that Germany didn’t experi- ence the same level of decline as seen elsewhere; and secondly, that it has done better than most other markets in clawing back what demand it had lost. The German plastics market has been sustained by the strength of its small and medium sized processors, which have often developed leading roles in niche markets.
The UK also had a better year than might be
GP-HI PS EPS
Source: AMI 22 INJECTION WORLD | November/December 2013 PP PVC
expected, given the weak state of plastics processing in the country even before the downturn. Although UK market demand at just over 3 million tonnes is some 800,000 tonnes less than the country’s peak demand - which was way back in 2000 - the market appears to be stabilising. With the improvements in UK
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