High Costs Drive Restructuring In Rigid Plastics Sector
as reported by plastics market research firm Applied Market Information (AMI).
High raw material costs and competitive pressures remain the driving forces behind restructuring and reorganisation in the rigid plastics sector, according to a report by plastics market research firm Applied Market Information (AMI).
In its latest review of the European sector's 50 largest firms, by polymer usage, AMI also recognised the important role of private equity houses in enabling firms to restructure.
Carole Kluth, AMI senior research editor, said, `It's hard to see that raw materials costs are going fall, but in the longer term they will get passed on as customers accept higher prices.`
The largest firm is Germany's Klöckner Pentaplast, which handles around 100,000 tonne of polymer more than its nearest rival Ineos.
Of the six outfits with capacity in excess of 100,000 tonne, however, three have their headquarters in the UK – Ineos, Linpac, RPC and Vitasheet.
AMI estimated the 50 largest firms together account for 60 percent of the European market, consuming 2.6 m tonne of polymer between them.
The research is based on information from ABI's database crossreferenced with interviews with the companies involved.
The Bristol-based organisation specialises in market research for the chemicals and plastics industries.
