Germany is the largest producer of plastics in Europe and is therefore the largest plastics market. The plastics processing market in Germany was valued at $71 billion in 2010. Germany is also thought to be an attractive market for bioplastics, with a share of approximately 1%, but growing rapidly. The key driver for demand for plastics are end-user markets of medical devices, packaging, electronics and several other sectors. The performace of the German plastics market is dependent upon the demand for its end-use market products.

The German plastics processing market was valued at just over €50 billion in 2010, posting growth of 14% over the previous year. Some 12 million tons of plastics were processed in 2010. Furthermore, Germany has an excellent plastics recycling record, with 97% of consumers' plastic waste being recycled. The German plastics processing market is expected to grow by around 2% in 2001.

About 3,600 firms are active in the German plastics industry, one of Germany's major manufacturing industries. The majority of these companies is of small or medium size. The German plastics industry consists of three main sub-sectors: Plastics materials production, plastics processing, and plastics machinery production.

Some 2,780 firms with a total of 284,000 employees are active in the German plastics processing industry. In 2007, annual sales in the German plastics processing industry grew by 7.5% over the previous year to €53 billion. As before, the automotive and electronics suppliers were major users, experiencing a 9.5% growth each, followed by the packaging segment (9%), consumer goods (6.6%), and construction (4.7%). The export quota of this segment amounted to 36.6%.

Analysts suggest the German plastics industry generates approximately €88 billion annually, and comprises over 7,000 companies employing 440,000 people. Germany's plastics and rubber machinery builders are world leaders. In 2009, they employed a labor force of 48,000 people in 810 companies, generating turnover of EUR 6 billion.

Around 10.9 million and 7.2 million tons from overall plastics production go to export and import markets respectively. Around 13.3 million tons of plastics are processed in Germany. More than 80 percent of plastics produced in Germany are intended for the European plastics market: 72 percent of this volume remains in the European single market with a further 10 percent ending up in other European countries in 2009. The main European importers of German plastics are France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland. Germany is also one of the largest importers and processors of plastics materials. Ninety-four percent of all plastics imported in 2009 came from Europe (of which 90 percent came from EU-27 countries).

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