(CHEManager International 1-2/2014)     World plastics production     In the second half of the 20th century, plastics became one of the most universally-used and multipurpose materials in the global economy. Today, plastics are utilized in more and more applications and they have become essential to our modern economy. The plastics industry has benefited from 50 years of growth with a year on year expansion of 8.7% from 1950 to 2012. The effects of the economic crisis of 2008/2009 are clearly recognizable but in 2010 global production of plastics recovered and rose to 288 million tons in 2012 - a 2.8% increase compared to 2011 (Fig. 1).

Plastics production by region     In terms of global plastics production, China surpassed Europe in 2010. In 2012, for the third year in a row, China remained the leading plastics producer in the world with 23.9% (Fig. 2). The gap with China plus the rest of Asian countries seems to be increasing year by year for the European plastics producers. In 2012, European production (EU-27+2) accounted for 20.4% of the world's total production. Apart from Europe, plastics production in almost each of the world's regions is sparked by competitive advantages such as lower energy or feedstock prices or by higher population and GDP growth.

European plastics industry      The positive growth of the plastics industry in the EU-27 after the bounce back from the economic recession continued until the beginning of 2011 (Fig. 3). Since then, the plastics producing and converting sectors have showed a clear decreasing trend. Plastics production decreased by 3% from 2011 to 2012 and the evolution of the different sectors of the plastic industry in Europe during 2013 indicate that 2013 was a year of stabilization rather than growth. However, for 2014 PlasticsEurope expects primary plastics production to start a slow recovery.

Plastics demand by market      There are various types of plastics featuring different properties. Overall, packaging is by far the largest end-use market of plastic materials with a share of 39.4% followed by the Building & Construction, Automotive and Electrical & Electronic sectors (Fig. 4). Others end-use markets of plastic materials include consumer, household, appliances, furniture, agriculture, medical, etc. In 2012, compared to the year 2011, all markets showed a decrease. However, due to their beneficial material properties that enable innovation in numerous applications, help reduce energy consumption, improve safety and inspire architects and designers, engineers and inventors, plastics will continue their success story in the future.

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