Western European market estimations of consumption and annual growth rates

Year Total sales and captive use (kt) 2001 2005 Market shares linked to identified thermoplastic uses (%) AAGR (% per year) 

The European market shares are close to the global values with a low growth rate, roughly 3% per annum. 

Statistics are rare and often differ. However, it is generally estimated that  

SMEs employing more than 100 workers generate 75% of the plastics processing turnover. The general trend is towards alliances and mergers. 

In the USA, there are approximately 13 000 companies specializing in processing plastics, about half the European figure. They employ about 600000 people, and have sales around 63 billion. A large number of enterprises, integrated into other industries, are not included in these statistics. 

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Table 2.13 Western European market estimations of consumption and annual growth rates...

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