Statistics: trends in glass fibre reinforced plastic production in Europe, February 2020

Statistics: trends in glass fibre reinforced plastic production in Europe, February 2020

This report includes statistical data and analysis of glass fibre reinforced plastics production in Europe, and provides breakdowns in terms of segment and country or region. It also provides an outlook for the future. European production of glass fibre reinforced plastics is estimated to have remained stable in 2019 following six consecutive years of growth. As a result, it remained at its second highest level on record. Geographically, the largest producer was Germany, followed by Eastern Europe, Spain and Portugal, Italy, the UK and Ireland, and France. The largest segment was that of sheet moulding compound (SMC) components and bulk moulding compound (BMC) components, followed by: products manufactured using open mould processes; glass mat reinforced thermoplastics (GMT) and long fibre reinforced thermoplastics (LFT); sheet components and pultruded components manufactured using continuous processes; products manufactured using resin transfer moulding (RTM); and pipes and tanks. Looking to the future, the glass fibre reinforced plastics industry in Europe is expected to continue to grow as research into further applications bears fruit and improvements are made to materials and processing methods.