Consumption grows 1% in 2013 / Polyolefins, PU and PET see gains / PVC and PS demand continues to fall/ Producers under rising pressure / Polymer output reaches EUR 99 bn / USA as most important trade partner

摘要

The effects of the US shale gas revolution have not left Europe untouched, as the latest Eurostat figures indicate that the EU 27's commodity plastics output fell by double-digit percentages from 2007-2013. All in all, polymer production in the EU 27, Norway and Switzerland reached EUR 99 bn in 2013, the latest analysis on production, consumption and waste, summed up in PlasticsEurope's (Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticseurope. org) "Plastics - the facts 2014" shows. The study was carried out by PlasticsEurope's Market Research and Statistics Group (PEMRG) with EuPC (Brussels; www.plasticsconverters.eu) and EPRO (Brussels; www.epro-plasticsrecycling.org). The European plastics processing sector posted sales of about EUR 212 bn in 2013, the study shows, illustrating that the crisis is slowly being left behind - even if the figure still falls slightly short of pre-crisis levels.