Sewage systems have been around for about 5000 years. However, not everywhere: In France, for instance, more than 5 million households are not connected to the public sewage network. In rural areas in particular, the sewage infrastructure in Europe still has to be expanded. In the cities, it is less about new construction than about replacing old piping systems. For sewage, potable water, cable protection, gas piping, and other applications, pipes made of plastic are becoming more and more popular: They are light-weight, robust, and handy; they are increasingly replacing aluminum, concrete cast iron, copper or steel. Ceresana analyzed the European market for plastic pipes already for the third time. The analysts forecast European demand to increase to over 5.2 million tonnes until 2024.

Polyethylene and PVC Are in the Lead

The demand for plastic pipes particularly depends on the development of the construction industry. For the construction industry, plastic turned into a real alternative to other materials. The degree of importance various applications areas have for different types of pipes, however, varies considerably. For example, pipes made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are relatively cheap and are thus used extensively in the sewage, potable water, and cable protection sectors. Pipes based on polypropylene and polyethylene play a more and more important role in the applications potable water, gas supply, and industry. The most important product types in 2016 were polyethylene and PVC.

Political Piping

Everywhere, plastic pipes compete with pipes made of steel, stoneware or other materials. In some countries, decreasing public expenditure, political uncertainties or missing private investments can have similarly drastic effects on the construction industry and the pipe market as targeted support for single construction segments. The intensity of the promotion of investments in the segment irrigation or the expansion of the fiber optic network varies also from country to country.

Regional Differences

The demand for high-quality pipes made of polypropylene and polyethylene is particularly increasing on the relatively saturated markets in Western Europe, while the demand for PVC pipes is barely growing. In Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland, for instance, the demand for plastic pipes is developing positively. Some southern European countries, however, such as Spain, are not expected to see any significant recovery in the short term. In Eastern Europe, PVC pipes are experiencing even higher growth compared to the West. The analysts at Ceresana expect higher growth rates of plastic pipe consumption for Eastern Europe in the future, especially because the networks for water supply and sewage continue to have a high backlog demand.    

The Study in Brief:

Chapter 1 provides a description and analysis of the European market for plastic pipes - including forecasts up to 2024. Revenues, demand, production, as well as import and export are evaluated. Production and demand volume is split by the plastic types polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and other plastics. Additionally, demand in the individual application areas is analyzed in detail for the large countries.
Chapter 2 deals with the different application areas of plastic pipes within the individual countries: sewage, drinking water, cable protection, gas supply, agriculture, industrial products, and other applications.
Chapter 3 provides an overview of the demand for individual types of pipes split by the national markets. A distinction is made between PE pipes, PP pipes, PVC pipes, and pipes made of other plastics. Chapter 4 provides company profiles of the largest manufacturers of plastic pipes - clearly arranged according to contact details, revenues, profit, product range, production sites, and profile summary. In-depth profiles of 66 producers are given, including Aalberts Industries N.V., Aliaxis, Fränkische Rohrwerke, Fondital Group, Geberit AG, Georg Fischer, Pipelife, Polyplastic Group, Rehau, Tessenderlo Group, Uponor, and Wavin.
Further information: www.ceresana.com/en/market-studies/industry/plastic-pipes-europe/

About Ceresana:
Ceresana is a leading international market research and consultancy company for the industrial sector. For more than 15 years, it has been been supplying 10,000 customers from 60 countries with up-to-date market intelligence. Ceresana's clients profit from implementation-oriented consulting services, tailor-made single-client studies and more than 100 multi-client market studies. The Ceresana business analysts are specialists in chemicals, plastics, industrial components, and packaging. More about Ceresana at www.ceresana.com

Ceresana
Mainaustrasse 34
78464 Konstanz
Germany
Phone: +49 7531 94293 10
Fax: +49 7531 94293 27
Press Contact: Martin Ebner, m.ebner@ceresana.com