The plastic products manufacturing subsector (Group 22.2) was
approximately four times the size of the rubber products manufacturing
subsector (Group 22.1) in the EU-27 in terms of its value added — see
Figure 1. Both subsectors recorded productivity levels below the
manufacturing average, while being above the non-financial business economy
average (2009 data for rubber products manufacturing). Average personnel costs
for the EU-27’s rubber products manufacturing subsector were EUR 37.0
thousand per employee in 2010, which was slightly above the manufacturing
average (EUR 35.8 thousand per employee). By contrast, EU-27 average
personnel costs for the plastics products manufacturing subsector were
EUR 31.5 thousand, just above the non-financial business economy average
(EUR 30.9 thousand per employee).
The gross operating rate of the EU-27’s
plastic products manufacturing subsector was, at 9.8 %, marginally lower
than for the rubber products manufacturing subsector (10.0 %) in 2010.
Both of these rates were slightly above the manufacturing average (9.0 %)
but just below the non-financial business economy average (10.1 %). They
are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from petrochemicals, but many are
partially natural. Plasticity is the general property of all materials that are
able to irreversibly deform without breaking, but this occurs to such a degree
with this class of moldable polymers that their name is an emphasis on this
ability.