Market Overview

The estimated global automotive plastics market size in 2018 based on the sales volume at the makers achieved 10,173 thousand tons, 100.3% of that of the previous year. The breakdown of the market size was as follows: General plastics (PP, HDPE, PVC, and ABS) occupied about 70% of the market to attain 7,186 thousand tons, while general engineering plastics (PA6, PA, PC, POM, PBT, and modified PPE) reached 2,987 thousand tons. The sales volume of automotive plastics was in parallel with the worldwide number of automobiles produced, with the global demand of automotive plastics (total of general automotive plastics and general engineering plastics) being about the same level as the previous year.

The global number of automobiles produced in 2018 was 97,769 thousand, 99.5% of that of last year, failing to reach the previous-year result. While Japan managed to marginally outnumber the preceding-year results at 9,730 thousand, China, Europe, and North America failed to do so, recording 27,809 thousand, 19,440 thousand, and 13,327 thousand, respectively.

Noteworthy Topics

Largest Demand for Automotive Plastics by Auto Part was Interior

When observing the ratio of the demand for automotive plastics by auto part for 2018, interior parts occupied the largest ratio to attain 30.4%, followed by engine components/functional parts accounting for 30.1%, body panels/exterior 28.2%, and electric/electronic parts 11.3%. The ratio of using general plastics for body panels/exterior and for interior parts attained around 80 to 90%, while the ratio between general plastics and engineering plastics for engine components and for electric/electronic parts was almost 50-50 ratio.

Future Outlook

For the future, the structural factors, such as decreasing population and aging society, are likely to stagnate automobile production in Japan. To the contrary, primarily in the emerging countries, the number of automobiles produced is likely to expand with high growth rate, while the growth rate in China to scale down but remain at around 2% and that in Europe and the U.S. stay at around 1%. The global number of automobiles produced is likely to be 125,200 thousand by 2030.

Based on the estimated number of automobiles globally produced, with the changes in the volume of plastics used for auto parts during the past years included, global automotive plastics market size (i.e., the sales volume at makers) is projected to attain 13,968 thousand tons by 2030, while CAGR of general automotive plastics from 2018 to 2030 is projected to be 2.32% and general engineering plastics to be 3.48%.

Research Outline