Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
ISSUE 2016/2017
THE PLASTICS INDUSTRY IN GERMANY
Europes Leading
Plastics Nation
Plastics are an essential part of modern life. In- The industry plays a major role in providing
creased living standards, growing environmental new and innovative products and solutions to a
awareness, and sustainable development thinking number of key industries including the automo-
are driving the demand for new and innovative tive, mechanical engineering, packaging, electrical
material solutions. Plastics are everywhere, and engineering, and construction sectors. Growth
often in the unlikeliest of places: in housing and (carbon composites) and future (INDUSTRIE 4.0)
construction, in wind turbines and solar panels, market trends are also making themselves felt in
and even in state-of-the-art sporting apparel. As the domestic plastics sector. Germany is setting
Europes largest producer of chemicals and plas- the international standard as a plastics industry
tics, Germany is Europes leading plastics industry. location, with the countrys leading-edge network
The countrys plastics industry includes polymer of chemical parks and unique cluster concept pro-
manufacturers, converters and machine manufac- viding industry actors with swift and easy access
turers alike. And with sales of over EUR 90 billion, to all parts of the plastics industry value chain.
the domestic plastics industry counts as one of
Germanys most important industry sectors.
Sweden Finland
plane
Russia
3h by
Germanys plastics
industry at the Norway
Lithuania
Denmark
RU
Belarus
Ireland
UK
Netherlands Poland
15h 30h by train
Belgium GERMANY
Ukraine
Luxembourg Czechia
Slovak Moldova
Republic
France
Austria
Hungary
Romania
h Switzerland
12 Slovenia
Croatia Serbia
Bosnia-
k Herzegovina Bulgaria
uc
tr Kosovo
by Montenegro
h Italy
24 Macedonia
Portugal
Albania
Turkey
Greece
Spain
Malta
3
MARKET OPPORTUNITIES
Top European FDI Destination Countries 20112015 European Plastics Materials Demand 2014
in percent in percent
Others 21 Germany 20
Poland 6
Spain 7
Netherlands 3 Total demand:
Total projects:
Belgium 3
678
UK 10
UK 8 46 Germany 25
Turkey 4
Poland 10 Benelux 9
Hungary 4
Russia 6
Spain 7 France 8 France 10 Italy 14
Source: fDi Markets, GTAI FDI Competence Center 2016 Source: PlasticsEurope Market Research Group 2014
The entire value chain is available with the highest integration and based on state-of-the-art technologies and infrastructure.
National and international chemicals and plastics clusters and innovative networks along the entire value chain.
5
MARKET OPPORTUNITIES
Market Applications
and Segments
Whether in the automotive sector, construction, Opportunities: Major opportunities abound for
packaging, or even in the field of health care companies active in the packaging sector. In 2013,
products, the plastics industry is creating new over 19 million tons of packaging materials from
and profitable business opportunities in numerous glass, metals, paper, and plastics were produced.
application markets. New production and manu- With 42.5 percent of the German packaging mar-
facturing technologies like additive manufacturing ket by production value (paper 33.2 percent, glass
(3D printing) open up a growing applications 7.8 percent, and metals 16.6 percent respectively),
spectrum in almost all application industries. plastics enjoy a significant share of the packaging
materials market. The food and beverage sector is
a major application market. Increased demand is
Packaging also forecast for packaging films, hollow bodies,
Market: Within Europe, more than 50 percent closures, cups, and cans.
of all goods are packaged in plastics. According
to PlasticsEurope, major efficiencies achieved
in plastics packaging mean that, by weight,
Building & Construction
plastics account for only 17 percent of all packag- Market: Construction is the second largest plas-
ing. Packaging is the largest plastics application tics end-user application industry with 24 percent
market segment, with 35 percent of total plastics of plastics production. Plastics are indispensable
processing finding its way into the packaging to modern building construction due to their
sector. According to the IK (The Plastics Packag- durability, easy handling, and high performance
ing Industry Association), the industry sector in characteristics as well as lower maintenance costs.
Germany had a production capacity of 4.3 million
tons and sales of EUR 13.6 billion in 2013. The share Opportunities: Major opportunities exist in the
of plastics packaging in the whole packaging mar- energy-efficient construction materials segment
ket has been growing constantly in recent years thanks to the use of plastics-derived thermal
and currently stands at 42.5 percent in production insulation materials. The global plastic pipe mar-
value terms. ket will also record double-digit growth over the
next decade.
The packaging market remains stable, maintaining
the record levels of 2013 into 2014. According to
the GADV (German Packaging Manufacturers),
Electrical & Electronics
packaging material turnover reached EUR 32 bil- Market: With around 850,000 employees and
lion (with a slightly reduced production volume sales of EUR 179 billion according to the ZVEI
of 19 million tons). Plastics packaging was again (Central Association of the Electrical Engineering
able to convince in this crowded segment, secur- and Electronics Industry, 2015), the electrical and
ing the largest market share with 44 percent of electronics (E&E) industry counts as one of the
turnover. This took the German market for plastics biggest industry sectors in Germany. The aver-
packaging to record levels in 2014, with produc- age plastics content in E&E devices is around 20
tion increasing by 2.7 percent to 4.4 million tons. percent of weight. Plastics excellent insulating
Turnover increased by 2.9 percent taking it over properties and flexibility are ideal for use in the
the EUR 14 billion mark. New technologies and electrical goods and electronics sector. Germanys
improved processes are creating greater efficien- E&E sector accounts for six percent of the total
cies which are making plastics packaging more plastics consumption market.
attractive. Plastics also provide a ready solution
to environmental challenges and ensure the safe Opportunities: The global E&E industry is the
and hygienic transportation of water, food, and worlds fastest-growing industry sector, and the
other consumer goods in an increasingly urban- fourth largest in Germany by revenue (second
ized world. Since 1991, plastics packaging has, on largest by employment). Plastics are also playing
average, become 25 percent lighter. Almost 100 an important role in global efforts to develop
percent of all household packaging is utilized, of novel electronic devices using organic functional
which 56 percent is recycled. layers suited to simple and low-cost products.
Medical 2
Automotive Agriculture 3
Market: German automobile manufacturers Furniture 4 Packaging 35
produced more than 14 million cars in 2014
equivalent to more than 17 percent of worldwide Housewares 6
7
R&D INFRASTRUCTURE
Saxony-Anhalt
go-cluster
North Rhine-
Westphalia
Saxony
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs
Thuringia and Energy go cluster excellence program
Hessen
brings together more than 100 innovation
Rheinland- clusters from across Germany. Cluster mem-
Pfalz
bers are at the cutting-edge of innovation
and represent the technological diversity
Saarland within the countrys industry and technol-
Bavaria
ogy sectors. The initiative provides financial
aid in the form of support for innovative
Baden-Wrttemberg services and funding for novel solutions to
optimize cluster management allowing mem-
ber clusters to position themselves as highly
effective and visible international clusters.
www.clusterplattform.de
Source: go-cluster, Fraunhofer Innovation Clusters, Fraunhofer Group,
GTAI Research 2016
9
INVESTMENT CLIMATE
Chemistry 44.4
Business-friendly Tax Conditions
10.2 Germany offers one of the most competitive tax
Chemical engineering/technology
systems of the big industrialized countries. The
Production/manufacturing technology 8.5 average overall tax burden for corporations is
just below 30 percent. Significantly lower rates
Plastics engineering 1.6 are available in certain German municipalities
up to eight percentage points less with the
Mechanical engineering 119.1 overall corporate tax burden as low as 22.8 percent
in some cases. Moreover, Germany provides an
Process technology 11.8
18 extensive network of double taxation agreements
16 (DTAs) ensuring that double taxation is ruled out,
Material sciences 8.0
14 e.g. when dividends are transferred from a German
subsidiary company to the foreign parent company.
Source: Federal Statistical Office, GTAI 2016
11
SUCCESS STORIES
Leuna in Saxony-Anhalt is home to the one of The location offers many advan-
the largest chemical industrial sites in Germany.
Jointly operated by a number of companies the
tages. It has the raw materials that
13 square kilometer site caters for the production we need. The hydrogen, for instance,
of a broad range of specialty and bulk chemicals is supplied by pipeline from Leuna.
and plastics. Around EUR 6 billion has been in-
vested at the 1,300 hectare since German reuni-
The local region also offers a talent
fication in 1990. Domo Chemicals, a leading chemi- pool, with the employees we need.
cal company headquartered in Leuna, and oil and Pio Gazzini, Technical Director
gas giant Total have announced plans to invest Radici Chimica Deutschland
around EUR 30 million each in the production of
13
OUR SERVICES
Business opportunity Project partner Joint project manage- Coordination and sup-
Market entry
analysis and market identification and ment with regional port of negotiations
strategy support
research contact development agency with local authorities
Identification of
Cost factor Site Site visit Final site
project-specific
analysis preselection organization decision support
location factors
Support services
Organization of Accompanying
Identification of Project-related
meetings with Administrative incentives application
relevant tax and financing and in
legal advisors and affairs support and establishment
legal issues centives consultancy
financial partners formalities
Executive Board
Dr. Benno Bunse, Chairman/CEO
Dr. Jrgen Friedrich, CEO
Authors
Peggy Grlitz is the senior manager responsible Mechanical & Electronic Technologies Team: Peggy Grlitz
for the plastics industry in Germany Trade & Marketing Team: William MacDougall
Invests Investor Consulting division. She is an
acknowledged industry expert with a wealth of Editor
more than 20 years' experience and a proven track William MacDougall, Germany
record in helping international companies set up Trade & Invest, Berlin
their business operations in Germany.
Layout
For questions on how to establish your business Germany Trade & Invest
or service center in Germany, please contact
Peggy Grlitz at peggy.goerlitz@gtai.com Print
inpuncto: asmuth druck+medien gmbh, Kln
For more information about the plastics
industry in Germany, please visit our website: Picture Credits
www.gtai.com/plastics Cover: Fraunhofer IAP photo: Alexander Krause
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