Plastic processing: Production value continues to climb / Blustery economic headwinds picking up / Construction sector in a hole following completion of large projects / New impetus for growth starting 2014

摘要

Poland has managed to avoid-if not steer clear of-the effects of the global and European economic troubles breathing down the country's back. This was largely due to the fact it had other, more important, economic projects to take care of: there were the preparations leading up to hosting the European football championship matches in 2012, a myriad of EU-funded projects and a robust domestic demand giving ample signals that economic good times were "here to stay". Times have indeed changed, however. Since the latter half of 2012, the eastern European country, with 38.5m people, is increasingly feeling the sting of the adverse economic trends plaguing other European neighbours. Its national economy has begun losing ground and its gross domestic product (GDP) grew only 1.9% in 2012, down from the 4.5% of the previous year. Yet the local plastics processing industry has fared better than Polish industry in general. In 2012, the production value of plastic products grew 3.1% over 2011 to EUR 8.29 bn, according to data provided by statistics provider Eurostat. However, the amount of processed plastics dropped by 1.8% to 2.05m t, according to the data.