Global bioplastics production capacity forecast to hit 800,000 tonnes

Worldwide production capacity for polylactic acid (PLA) bioplastics is expected to reach 800,000 tonnes per year by 2020, with at least seven sites having capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year, according to the Cologne, Germany-based Nova Institute.

The forecast comes from the a new bioplastics survey, Market Study on Bio-based Polymers and Plastics in the World, which will be published next January and is based on a survey of all the major bioplastics producers worldwide.

According to Nova, research into lactic acid producers – the preliminary stage of PLA production – revealed that production capacity to meet firm requests from customers could even rise to roughly 950,000 tonnes per year.

Michael Carus, managing director of Nova Institute, said: “For the very first time we have robust market data about worldwide PLA production capacity.

"These are considerably higher than in previous studies, which did not cover all producers. Forecasts of 800,000 or even 950,000 tonnes per year by 2020 show that PLA is definitely a polymer for the future.”

The largest producer is currently NatureWorks, which is active in the US and Thailand and has a capacity of 140,000 tonnes per year. 

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