World bioplastics market is valued at $30.8 billion: report

The current global bioplastics market is valued at US$30.8 billion, and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 17.5% during 2015-2020, driven by increasing popularity in the end user industries, a new report said.

But the report, created by Portland, Ore.-based Big Market Research, also noted that the high production cost of bioplastics may hamper the market growth to a certain extent.

“Bioplastics are consumed across wide range of industries such as rigid packaging, flexible packaging, textiles, consumer goods, agriculture, construction, electrical and electronics and similar others,” the report said. “In 2014, the consumption of bioplastics in rigid packaging was highest and is expected to retain its lead through 2020.”

The report noted that bioplastics possesses properties such as gloss, barrier effect, antistatic behavior and printability among others, which makes it suitable for rigid packaging application. “Furthermore, packaging industries have substantial curiosity for the biodegradability as packaging is needed for short period but in enormous quantity, results in the accumulation of waste,” it said. “Therefore, the packaging industry consumes bioplastics to decrease or recycle the accumulated waste products.”

The bioplastics market has been segmented by type as biodegradable and non-biodegradable bioplastics, the report noted. “Furthermore, biodegradable is segmented into PLA, PHA, Polyesters, Starch blends and others (cellulose esters and others) and non-biodegradable is segmented into Bio-PA, Bio-PE, Bio-PET and others (Bio-PTT, Bio-PUR and epoxies),” it said. “In 2014, the consumption of non-biodegradable bioplastics was highest owing to its properties similar to that of traditional plastics despite of being bio-based.”

Geographically, the market has been segmented into North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. “In 2014, Europe was highest revenue generating segment,” the report said. “European policy-makers support to the European bioplastics manufactures and increasing adoption in the Germany, Italy and United Kingdom are the key factors responsible for the growth of bioplastics market in Europe.”

Asia Pacific will be the fastest growing market, however, and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 19.6% during 2015-2020, due to the availability of huge renewable feedstocks in the region.