Important sectors such as packaging, automobiles, construction, and electronics cannot do without plastics. Current economic developments are jeopardizing the competitiveness of the European plastics industry, which currently secures over 1.5 million jobs in 51,700 companies. This is explained by the Plastics Europe Germany association.
Drastic Decline
Current data from Plastics Europe shows a drastic decline in plastics production in the EU by 8.3 percent in 2023 compared to 2022 to 54 million tons. The production of mechanically recycled plastics fell by 7.8 percent to 7.1 million tons. However, the use of recyclates (post-consumer recyclate, PCR, and post-industrial recyclate, PIR) increased by 24 percent since 2021 to 580 kt (2021: 467 kt) in 2024. These increases were mainly achieved by an increase in PCR volumes, from 369 kt in 2021 to 470 kt in 2023.
Global plastics production increased by 3.4 percent. Europe’s share of the global market will, therefore, fall to 12 percent. Europe has a positive trade balance and still exports more plastics in terms of value than it imports. However, since 2022, the EU has been importing more plastic pellets in terms of volume and, since 2021, more plastic products than it exports. The European foreign trade surplus of 5.4 billion euros also marks a long-term low.
