Europe’s global market share of plastics production has collapsed from 22% in 2006 to just 12% in 2024, according to latest annual data from industry body Plastics Europe, as per Chemweek.
Industry sales have also fallen by 13% over the past three years, shrinking from €457 billion in 2022 to €398 billion in 2024, Plastics Europe said Oct. 8 in a briefing at the K 2025 plastics trade fair in Dusseldorf, Germany.
The figures “confirm the rapid and continuing decline in the competitiveness of European plastics manufacturing,” and leave the industry “on the brink” of collapse, it said.
Despite a modest stabilization of European production volumes in 2024, which saw total volumes lift by 0.4% year over year, to 54.6 million metric tons (MMt), this slight rise followed a record slump in 2023 when volumes plunged by 7.6% compared to the previous year, it said. European plastic production volumes were as high as 62.3 MMt in 2018.
The decline in Europe “contrasts starkly with the industrial boom taking place in other regions,” it said.
Global plastics production rose by 4.1% year over year in 2024, to 430.9 MMt, and has grown by 16.3% compared to 2018’s global total of 370.6 MMt, according to Plastics Europe. Asia now produces 57.2% of the world’s plastics, with China alone accounting for 34.5%, almost three times that produced by the entire European Union. Fossil fuel-based plastics made up 387 MMt of the global total, or almost 90%, the association’s data show.
Europe’s previously leading role in circular plastics is also being eclipsed by China and the wider Asian region. Although circular plastics accounted for 15.4% of EU production in 2024, this figure “reflects a sharp 18.9% decline in fossil-based production since 2018, rather than a significant expansion in circular production,” it said. Fossil fuel-based plastics volumes in Europe of 43.3 MMt in 2024 represented almost 80% of total production.
Total EU circular plastics production last year remained flat at 8.4 MMt. Mechanical recycling increased by 2.7% to 7.7 MMt, while chemical recycling remained static at 110,000 metric tons, and bio-based plastics declined by 25% to 600,000 metric tons.
Global circular plastics production, however, surged to 43.9 MMt last year, breaching the 10% threshold of total global output for the first time, it said. China alone produced 13.4 MMt of circular plastics in 2024, “nearly double Europe’s volume,” it said.
“The European plastics industry is at a cliff edge as competitiveness collapses. The alarm bells should be ringing in the European Commission and EU capitals,” Virginia Janssens, managing director of Plastics Europe, said Oct. 8.
Keeping a sufficient level of local production avoids excessive dependence and strengthens Europe’s security she said. “Our political leadership must decide whether Europe wants to develop the world’s first circular plastics system or decarbonize through further deindustrialisation. The Clean Industrial Deal cannot be implemented fast enough,” she said.
“Our decarbonization and circular transition is stalling in the absence of clear policy support,” Janssens said, adding that all available recycling technologies as well as effective market-pull measures are needed.
Europe’s plastics manufacturers face crippling energy costs, climate-related taxes and high feedstock prices, which the association said are “eroding the industry’s competitiveness and accelerating ongoing asset sales and closures.”
The EU27’s trade deficit in plastics has improved marginally, it noted, narrowing from a deficit of 800,000 metric tons in 2023 to a deficit of 200,000 metric tons in 2024. This was supported by a 10% increase in exports. The EU exported 13.1 MMt of plastics in 2024 and imported 13.3 MMt.
“However, changing global tariff regimes continue to pose a very significant threat. The United States is the largest source of polymer imports into Europe, accounting for 18.9% of the market, and the fourth largest export market for EU polymers, accounting for 7.7% of the market,” it said.
Plastics Europe President Benny Mermans described Europe’s plastics industry as being in a “pivotal” moment, and called for urgent political support and regulatory frameworks. “While innovation and investments accelerate on other continents, Europe faces softened turnover and slowed production. Our region needs urgent political support and frameworks to reinvigorate investment and secure resilient and competitive supply chains. Europe must act now,” he said.
The organization is calling for EU and national governments to take urgent action on several fronts, including addressing Europe’s energy cost crisis, strengthening the enforcement of EU border legislation, and promoting investment in circular plastics production in Europe.
Strong market demand for circular plastics must be fostered through ambitious recycled-content targets and other incentives, it said.
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