European injection moulding industry is thriving, says AMI study

A study conducted by Applied Market Information (AMI Consulting), has found that the European injection moulding industry is thriving as most of its markets have recovered from the economic collapse of over a decade ago.

In 2018 the industry value from virgin polymer exceeded €85 billion, an average growth of three per cent per annum since 2007, supported by growing polymer demand and added value opportunities, together with increased polymer prices.

The industry is also taking increasing advantage of the use of recyclates feedstocks which added around eight per cent to the industry value in 2018.

The versatility of the injection moulding process lends itself to serving an extremely diverse market portfolio with demand, in terms of polymer volume, being led by the packaging, automotive and electronics sectors.

Since AMI’s previous report in 2014, all the key market segments have grown, with packaging exhibiting the most sustained growth. Whilst automotive has seen the most robust growth.

Injection moulding is the most fragmented plastics industry with at least 8000 companies operating the process in Europe.

These businesses range from being single site moulding operations through to multi-national enterprises with many moulding locations in Europe.

However, the fragmentation of the injection moulding industry and the plethora of markets it serves leads to an intensely competitive business environment in which there have been winners and losers.

Since 2014 the total number of injection moulding sites in Europe has fallen, despite substantial investment in new sites in Central Europe.

Companies have closed or consolidated mainly due to a shift of the customer base within Europe, its exit from the region or its decline in Europe due to the inter-regional competition or technology progression, and within this context, many participating in the industry may be considered to be ’surviving’.