JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #84 - October 2013 - 18

Market

trends

Germany:
more than a resilient country
- Germany: more than a
resilient country .......... p18
- Production capacities for

bio-based polymers in
Europe: Status and trends
towards 2020 ............... p20

- New projects for basalt p22

It may be a cliché, but when you think of Germany from an
industrial viewpoint, you think "quality". In the composites
market, in fact, Germany also produces in volume, while
endeavouring to stay true to its image. In 2012, it became
Europe's leading player in composites. Although the country
is "going global" with export as the main target of German
industrial production, it is not neglecting its regional markets.

for 95% of the volume, followed the overall
growth for Europe (see Figure 1).

A

ccording to Dr. Elmar Witten,
Managing Director of the German
reinforced plastics federation, AVK,
the figures in AVK's Composites Market
Report 2013 (The European GRP Market)
show that the European volume market
for composites will start to grow slightly
in 2013 ( by 0.99% over 2012), following
the 3.72% decline in 2012 compared to
2011. Of course, the European composites
market, although better off than for some
other materials, is not decorrelated from
the European economy. But the situation
is much more complex than that, given the
extreme heterogeneity of the composite
industry. Growth is being registered in
some countries and for certain technologies or applications, while others are clearly
in decline. For example, volume for resin
transfer moulded parts should grow 5%
this year compared to 2012. This development is due to the pursuit of greater
automation - in particular for automotive,
especially in Germany.

Growth over the past 5 years
The German market for glass fibre reinforced plastics (GFRP), which accounts

18 jec composites magazine / No84 October 2013

In 2009, Germany was still Europe's
third-largest producer of composites,
with Spain and Portugal tied for first place
and Italy second. By 2010, Germany had
become the second-largest, where it stayed
until 2012 when it moved into its current
No.1 position. Over the past five years,
the growth of composites in Germany
has been much higher than the European
average: 12 points higher in 2010, and
respectively 3.5, 9.5, and 4.5 points higher
in 2011, 2012 and 2013 than the preceding
year. Germany's production increased even
in 2012, when the market was shrinking.
For 2013, the AVK forecasts that Germany's production will reach 192 metric
kilotons out of a total 1020 metric kilotons
for Europe (excluding short fibre reinforced thermoplastics). With many other
countries showing minimal or negative
growth, Germany is looking good. This is
linked to its economy's satisfactory growth
in the European zone, to the growth of
the country's automotive production, to
major energy production projects, and to
the considerable flexibility and exporting
activity of its small- and medium-sized
businesses compared to other countries in
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JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #84 - October 2013

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