Belgian plastics and rubber industries are at the forefront of innovation in Europe

On the occasion of its General Assembly Federplast.be, the Belgian Association of Manufacturers of Plastic and Rubber Products, publishes the results of a survey of its members. The production of the plastics and rubber industry experienced in 2012 a decrease of 2.6%. For 2013, 31% of the CEO’s expect a business growth, while 37% foresee a further deterioration. Employment fell by 2.4%. Positive is that 80% of the plastics and rubber converting plants in Belgium are innovative, which is the second highest score in Europe after Germany. Federplast.be represents the plastics and rubber processing companies which are members of Agoria, the Belgian Federation for the Technology Industry, and essenscia, the Belgian Federation of the Chemical Industry and Life Sciences. The producers of plastic and rubber articles are an SME sector with an average company size of 45 employees. When the manufacturers of plastics and rubber materials (chemicals multinationals) are also considered, than the plastics and rubber industry within Agoria, essenscia and Federplast.be represents a total of 304 companies, 34,000 employees and a turnover of € 14 billion. “Plastics and plastic products” with an export balance of € 10.6 billion are sector 1 in Belgium's trade. Following a growth of the volume of 3.7% in 2011, the plastics and rubber processing companies recorded a decrease of 2.6% in 2012, which is at the level of France (-2.7%), but below the performance of the Netherlands (-0.7%) and Germany (-0.9%). “The survey found diverse perspectives to our members," said Stephane Dalimier, chairman of Federplast.be, "but the general trend for 2013 is negative. 41% of the CEO’s expect a further decline in employment. While 65% rely on some growth in new markets, 70% of them expect no growth in existing markets. These figures demonstrate the importance for the sector of innovation with new products and in new applications.” A comparative study by Eurostat shows that 80% of the plastics and rubber processing companies in Belgium are innovative. This is the second highest rate after Germany (86%), but for Austria (77%), Sweden (72%) and the Netherlands (68%). The loss of market share can only be explained by the very high labour costs. The high productivity is no longer sufficient to offset this handicap: in terms of productivity per unit labour cost the Belgian plastics and rubber industry is now under the European average. Federplast.be has fully deployed for more innovation. The association took the initiative for the creation of the Plastiwin cluster in Wallonia in 2008 and of the competence pool Flanders' PlasticVision in Flanders in 2009, two regional structures that are intended to support plastics and rubber processing SME companies in the field of innovation.