BELGIUM
Plastics and rubber products output falls 2.6% in 2012 / Negative business trend continues into 2013 / World's largest per capita plastics producer / Federplast survey
Belgium’s production of plastics and rubber products declined by 2.6% in 2012 and the outlook for 2013 remains unstable, according to a survey conducted by the national association of plastic and rubber products manufacturers Federplast (Brussels; www.federplast.be). The production decline is similar to that recorded for France (-2.7%) – also see Plasteurope.com of 04.02.2013 – but worse than the performances of The Netherlands (-0.7%) and Germany (-0.9%) –see PIEWEb of 18.02.2013, according to Eurostat data.



About 38% of CEOs of companies in the Belgian plastics and rubber products sector expect to see a further deterioration in their business in 2013, while 31% expect to see business growth, said Federplast chairman Stephane Dalimier. Accoerding to the survey, more than 40% of CEOs expect employment in the sector to decline.



The survey found diverse perspectives from the association’s members, "but the general trend for 2013 is negative”, Dalimier said. Only 30% of CEOs expect growth in existing markets this year, although 65% are expecting growth in new markets, he added.

Turnover from plastics and rubber products fell by 5.4% in 2012, according to the Federplast survey. This compares with 2.5% growth in the country's polymers turnover. On a more positive note, Federplast pointed to a Eurostat study which found that 80% of plastics and rubber processing companies in Belgium are innovative. This is the second highest rate after Germany (86%).

Belgium is the world’s largest plastics converter on a per capita basis, followed by Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic, Federplast said (for more details, see also Plasteurope.com of 26.09.2011). Belgium is also the world’s largest plastics producer on a per capita basis, followed by The Netherlands, Germany and France. The country benefits from its chemicals cluster and port in Antwerp, as well as the ports of Zeebrugge and Ghent, Dalimier said.

According to Plasteurope.com's Polyglobe capacity database (www.polyglobe.net), more than 10m t/y of monomers are produced in Belgium, alongside 6.4m t/y of polymers. Major production sites include Antwerp, where 2.4m t/y of polymer nameplate capacity exists, followed by Feluy, which turns out more than 1.2m t/y. While the former site is home to global players such as BASF, Total, Bayer, Ineos, Lanxess and Styrolution, the latter is used only by Total.
09.04.2013 Plasteurope.com [224989-0]
Published on 09.04.2013

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