The results of European Bioplastics’ annual market data update 2016 confirm a stable growth of the global bioplastics industry: “The market is predicted to grow by 50 percent over the coming years despite the low oil price,” said François de Bie, Chairman of European Bioplastics, during the 11th European Bioplastics Conference on 30 November 2016 in Berlin.
Global production capacities 2016-2021 (c) European Bioplastics
The global bioplastics production capacity is set to increase from around 4.2 million tonnes in 2016 to approximately 6.1 million tonnes in 2021. Packaging remains the largest fields of application for bioplastics with almost 40 percent (1.6 million tonnes) of the total bioplastics market in 2016. The data also confirms a decisive increase in the uptake of bioplastics materials in many other sectors, including consumer goods (22 percent, 0.9 million tonnes) and applications in the automotive and transport sector (14 percent, 0.6 million tonnes) and the construction and building sector (13 percent, 0.5 million tonnes), where technical performance polymers are being used.
“The data illustrates an important trend, driven by changing consumer demands, to make plastic products more resource efficient and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the dependency on fossil resources,” explains de Bie. “This trend is the result of substantial investments in research and development by the many innovative small and large companies that concentrate their strengths on the development of bio-based products designed with the circular economy in mind.”