Italy on the rise in 2013

The plastics market in Italy recorded 1% growth in 2013, following two consecutive years of decline (-9% in 2012 and -3% in 2011). According to consultants ChemOrbis, this is the picture emerging from statistics on Italy's imports last year, which exceeded 4 million tons.
However, trends appear to differ between the various materials, some continue to fall while others are rising strongly. PET clearly contributed significantly to the growth, with a 32% increase in imports (the highest for commodities), amounting to 269,000 tons. On the contrary, PS recorded the steepest downturn, of -9%. Imports of HDPE were also up (+1%, for a total of 643,000 tons) as were those of LDPE (+4%, 508,000 tons), while LLDPE continued to lag with 223,000 tons.