Global bioplastics output to rise sharply to 7.8m tonnes in 2019

Franco Capaldo

05-Nov-2015

LONDON (ICIS)–Global Bioplastics production capacity is set to increase sharply from around 1.7m tonnes in 2014 to approximately 7.8m tonnes in 2019, the European Bioplastics association said on Thursday.

Biobased, non-biodegradable plastics, such as biobased polyethylene (PE) and biobased polyethylene terephthalate (PET), would be the main drivers of this growth, European Bioplastics added.

“The market is predicted to grow by more than 350% in the mid-term,” said Francois de Bie, chairman of European Bioplastics.

Data was compiled in cooperation with the research institutes IfBB – Institute for Bioplastics and Biocomposites (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hannover, Germany) and nova-Institute (Hurth, Germany).

More than 60% of the bioplastics production capacity worldwide in 2014 was biobased, durable plastics, the association said, adding that this share will rise to over 80% in 2019.

Production capacities of biodegradable plastics are also growing steadily, nearly doubling from 700,000 tonnes in 2014 to well over 1.2m tonnes in 2019.

“It seems that compostable plastics are moving from niche to mainstream and many compostable plastics have found their true added value applications,” said de Bie.

The single largest field of application for bioplastics remains packaging with almost 70% (1.2m tonnes) of the total bioplastics market in 2014.

“The data illustrates an important trend to make packaging more resource efficient, which is driven by a growing consumer demand for products with a reduced environmental impact,” said de Bie.

Global production capacities of bioplastics_EUBP_2015

On a regional basis, Europe is falling behind.  Asia will further expand its role as major production hub and in 2019, more than 80% of bioplastics will be produced in the region.

“Europe will be left with less than 5% of the production capacities. Whereas countries such as the USA, Asia, and Latin America are implementing close-to-market measures to attract production hubs and promote faster market development, the European market for bioplastics is limited by the lack of economic and policy measures to allow for a larger scale-up of production capacities within Europe,” European Bioplastics said.

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