SEMI-FINISHED PRODUCTS
European market for plastic sheets: 10 percent of total plastics consumption / Extrusion, casting, calendering, compression moulding / Packaging and construction industries/ New AMI report
While standard thermoplastic sheets, mostly manufactured by continuous processes, may not be particularly spectacular compared with some of the new high-tech polymer applications and the more sophisticated injection moulded engineering components, such products, defined by the market research company, Applied Market Information (AMI, GB- Bristol; www.amiplastics.com), as “flat plastic parts with a thickness of at least 250 micrometers (0.25 mm) which may be flexible, rigid, solid, cellular or hollow,” still account for a significant part of the thermoplastics market.
According to the AMI, some 2.74m t (up 5.2%) or 10% of European plastics consumption went into these applications in 1999. Polystyrene in all its forms (HI-PS, EPS, XPS) clearly headed the list with a 6% growth and a consumption of over 1m t. This was followed by PVC, although the figure has been stagnating for several years at around 650,000 t. According to AMI, the reason for this is the substitution process due to environmental and health concerns. In the packaging segment, it is primarily PP and PET which are pushing out PVC, while in the technical sector, it is ABS, PC, polyolefins and PET.
In a thoroughly revised, updated version of its market report “The sheet extrusion industry in Europe”, which was first published in 1996, the British market research company lists over 700 operations in western Europe (EU + Switzerland) and the central European reform countries of Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary. Since its first edition, says AMI, there have been a large number of mergers and newly established companies, which have all been comprehensively documented. Although extrusion companies tend to dominate, the report also includes operations involved in the calendering (predominantly PVC), casting (mostly PMMA) and compression moulding (above all PE-UMHW) of film and sheets.
Around two thirds of all the products covered by this definition go into the packaging market. By far the biggest group are the thermoformed packaging materials for dairy products, with a total share of 29.9%. These are followed by other food packaging items with 25% and miscellaneous packaging products with 9.9%. 13.9% of plastic sheeting ends up in the construction industry, and transport is another significant part of the market, accounting for 3.8%.
More than half the plastics are processed in integrated facilities, in other words, in-line extrusion is immediately followed by thermoforming to produce the final product. This is usually the case in the previously mentioned fields of dairy product and food packaging. Here, the AMI cites Autobar Federation, Huhtamaki Van Leer, Linpac and RPC as examples of companies that tend to have large production runs. In other areas of application such as the construction industry or engineering components, the structure is entirely different. Here, in addition to independent semi-finished product manufacturers like Barlo Plastics and British Vita, there are also a number of subsidiary companies or spin-offs from larger plastics producers, such as Atoglas (Atofina), Ineos Acrylics (ex ICI), Makroform (Bayer / Röhm) and GE Plastics. EPS insulating panels are the domain of Dow and BASF, while PVC sheeting is one of Solvay´s big products.
AMI is expecting a growth rate of over 3% per annum over the next few years, which would mean a total thermoplastic consumption of more than 3.2m t in the year 2004. PP and PET applications for packaging and polycarbonate as a substitute for glass are seen as particularly promising growth segments.
As usual, the various operations are listed in AMI´s report with their full address plus e-mail and website, as well as the name of at least one contact person. It is easy to recognise whether the operation is an integrated company or a company that works under contract. The plastics they use, the type of sheets and processing and the markets they supply can be taken from a matrix.
Book Service: “AMI´s Guide to the Sheet Extrusion Industry in Europe”, 2nd Edition, 2000, DIN A4, paperback, 272 pages, original price EUR 305.00 + VAT: PIE-No. B 45015
According to the AMI, some 2.74m t (up 5.2%) or 10% of European plastics consumption went into these applications in 1999. Polystyrene in all its forms (HI-PS, EPS, XPS) clearly headed the list with a 6% growth and a consumption of over 1m t. This was followed by PVC, although the figure has been stagnating for several years at around 650,000 t. According to AMI, the reason for this is the substitution process due to environmental and health concerns. In the packaging segment, it is primarily PP and PET which are pushing out PVC, while in the technical sector, it is ABS, PC, polyolefins and PET.
In a thoroughly revised, updated version of its market report “The sheet extrusion industry in Europe”, which was first published in 1996, the British market research company lists over 700 operations in western Europe (EU + Switzerland) and the central European reform countries of Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary. Since its first edition, says AMI, there have been a large number of mergers and newly established companies, which have all been comprehensively documented. Although extrusion companies tend to dominate, the report also includes operations involved in the calendering (predominantly PVC), casting (mostly PMMA) and compression moulding (above all PE-UMHW) of film and sheets.
Around two thirds of all the products covered by this definition go into the packaging market. By far the biggest group are the thermoformed packaging materials for dairy products, with a total share of 29.9%. These are followed by other food packaging items with 25% and miscellaneous packaging products with 9.9%. 13.9% of plastic sheeting ends up in the construction industry, and transport is another significant part of the market, accounting for 3.8%.
More than half the plastics are processed in integrated facilities, in other words, in-line extrusion is immediately followed by thermoforming to produce the final product. This is usually the case in the previously mentioned fields of dairy product and food packaging. Here, the AMI cites Autobar Federation, Huhtamaki Van Leer, Linpac and RPC as examples of companies that tend to have large production runs. In other areas of application such as the construction industry or engineering components, the structure is entirely different. Here, in addition to independent semi-finished product manufacturers like Barlo Plastics and British Vita, there are also a number of subsidiary companies or spin-offs from larger plastics producers, such as Atoglas (Atofina), Ineos Acrylics (ex ICI), Makroform (Bayer / Röhm) and GE Plastics. EPS insulating panels are the domain of Dow and BASF, while PVC sheeting is one of Solvay´s big products.
AMI is expecting a growth rate of over 3% per annum over the next few years, which would mean a total thermoplastic consumption of more than 3.2m t in the year 2004. PP and PET applications for packaging and polycarbonate as a substitute for glass are seen as particularly promising growth segments.
As usual, the various operations are listed in AMI´s report with their full address plus e-mail and website, as well as the name of at least one contact person. It is easy to recognise whether the operation is an integrated company or a company that works under contract. The plastics they use, the type of sheets and processing and the markets they supply can be taken from a matrix.
Book Service: “AMI´s Guide to the Sheet Extrusion Industry in Europe”, 2nd Edition, 2000, DIN A4, paperback, 272 pages, original price EUR 305.00 + VAT: PIE-No. B 45015
 | |
29.03.2001 Plasteurope.com [16811]
Published on 29.03.2001