Structure of the German polymer industry in

The plastics production industry is export oriented, like the majority of the German economy. A foreign-trade surplus of EUR 3360 million was made in 1998, which is around 20 % of the total turnover of the sector. The EU-15 is the largest trading partner in the plastics field 72 % of exports and 82 % of imports are to or from EU-15 countries. 

Although a wide variety of products are manufactured in the plastics sector, the majority of the market is accounted for by only a few commodities or bulk plastics . The thermoplastics group is the largest plastics group and the bulk plastics amongst thermoplastics are PE, PP, PVC, PS and PA. These five materials alone account for 54.5 % of total plastics production. Table 1.8 shows production related data concerning the polymers mentioned above for 1998. 

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