Fierce competition and high volatility drive consolidation in Germany / French state fund for renovations / New UK market leader is born / Cladding segment increasingly trends towards grey EPS / Prolonged use of HBCD has no notable market relevance

Market remains below 2007 peak at EUR 6 bn in 2015 / Trend is reversing / Demand will pick up over next five years / AMI report

Sales after first nine months of 2015 match those of last year / Packaging products perform above average / Construction and semi-finished goods barely move / Technical parts and consumer goods looking up / Positive mood despite feedstock upheaval

US market to grow by nearly 5% to 2019 / Construction and electronics sectors to be best performers / Healthy demand from packaging / Freedonia report

Feedstock price swings reflected in the statistical H1 balance sheet / Depressed sales at the start of the year gradually lifted by cost rises / Full-year revenues could set new record

Regulatory pressures limit US and Canada growth / Production could shift to Mexico / Grand View Research report

European market to grow by 2% per year to 2019, led by eastern Europe / PCI Films study

Growth in cold storage in Asia and Middle East boosts global demand / Output forecast to grow by 4% per year to 2019 / IAL Consultants directory

Germany's Federal Cartel Office imposes EUR 75m fine on five acoustic insulation producers for alleged price fixing

Spanish technology centre to be beta tester for Ultem resin / Agreement with Stratasys

Processors eye 8% annual growth in African plastics demand to 2018 / South Africa accounts 25% of plastics processing sites / AMI database

Strong gains posted in 2014 / Global market worth more than USD 4 bn / Latest “Wohlers Report”

Sales hit new high in 2014 / Record number of employees / Widespread confidence for 2015 / GKV president still sees big challenges in energy policy and lack of trained personnel

Demand to reach almost 7m t in 2018 / LLDPE remains largest volume resin / Above average growth expected for PP film / Freedonia study

US sets up USD 260m IACMI composites research institute in Tennessee