European polymer demand growth is expected to be static in 2013 compared with last year, according to new research. In a new report Applied Market Information (AMI), calculated that the market for thermoplastics in Europe is currently 36.5 million tonnes, a volume that is still nearly four million tonnes lower than its 2007 peak. Although during 2010 and into 2011 the industry made a modest recovery from the devastating effects of the global downturn of 2008 and 2009, by the last quarter of 2011 the recovery was beginning to run out of steam in the face of the looming eurozone crisis. Polymer producers and processors alike have been more savvy about managing their inventories and have not been caught out as they did in 2008, yet while the drop in demand over 2012 and 2013 has been far less severe than in 2008-2009 the decline in government spending, manufacturing and consumer confidence still resulted in an overall contraction of polymer demand of just over 1% in 2012. Furthermore AMI views the industry now at the bottom of the cycle with demand expected to pick up again from 2014.
