EDITOUR PETplanet Insider Vol. 23 No. 01+02/22 www.petpla.net 10 Insular or Global? by Ruari McCallion The United Kingdom – officially, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – is made up of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Of these, England is by far the largest and, economically, the most dominant although, politically, the smaller nations have punched above their weight. The UK is the world’s fifth-largest economy and second only to Germany in wider Europe. Its economy is dominated by service industries; it is a global financial centre, with capital-raising resources dating back centuries. The country can claim to be the cradle of the Industrial Revolution but it now ranks eighth or ninth in the list of the world’s manufacturing economies (depending on definition) and less than nine per cent of its GDP is from manufacturing activities. Germany’s manufacturing sector contributes over 20% of total GDP. The UK’s largest manufacturing sector is Food & Drink, with 16.5% of total manufacturing GDP, followed by Transport, including automotive (13.9%) and Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (13.8%) which should lead to packaging production being equally large. It is significant but packaging is well down the list of manufacturing sectors. Rubber, plastics and nonmetallic minerals segment accounts for 7.3% of total manufacturing GDP, with machinery slightly larger, at 8.4%. there are no UK-based producers to match Canada’s Husky, the German network or Italy’s cluster. The Food & Drink sector is mature and significantly concentrated. Nonalcoholic beverages and energy drinks are overwhelmingly produced by a small number of large companies: Coca-Cola (including Fanta, Sprite, Dr Pepper and Schweppes), Britvic (which is the UK licensee for PepsiCo, Lipton Ice Tea, 7-Up and Gatorade), Suntory and Red Bull. Packaging – foreign ownership; zero-carbon challenges The UK’s packaging manufacturing industry as a whole employs some 85,000 people and has sales in excess of £11 bn (€13 bn). Much of the industry is owned by non-UK based companies. The Packaging Federation says that the decisions to invest or not in the UK have adversely influenced by perceptions of unilateral actions by the UK in pursuit of a low carbon economy (including carbon floor pricing) and the lack of a coherent strategy on the availability and pricing of energy and warns that there is a real danger that such policies – or lack of them – may seriously impact continued investment and employment in the industry’s UK manufacturing facilities. Indorama Ventures, a global leader in the production and supply of PET, closed its UK plant, located in Workington, NW England, in December 2017. Investment the other direction has been led by Alpek Polyester, which acquired the 26-hectare former Lotte Chemical UK site in Wilton, near Redcar, NE England, in January 2020. The site, which is 350 km from London, has the capacity to produce over 350,000 tonnes of PET resin chips annually. Beverage performance – growth in smoothies, health and energy drinks According to Mintel, total combined sales volumes of fruit juice, juice drinks and smoothies declined by 10.5% between 2014 and 2019. Sales fell 1.4% over the same period; revenues were estimated at £4.6bn (€5.5 bn) in 2019. The smoothies segment actually went the other way during the period, posting strong Plastic packaging placed on the market (POM) thousand tonnes 2017 2019 Change t % Grocery 948 987 39 4% Non-Grocery 584 460 -124 -21% Consumer 1,532 1,447 -85 -6% Agriculture 37 37 0 0% Construction & Demolition 62 76 14 23% Retail Back of Store 126 100 -26 -21% Hospitality 196 220 24 12% Manufacturing & Other 409 409 0 0% Non-consumer 830 842 12 1% Overall POM 2,362 2,289 -73 -3% Source & copyright by: WRAP Plastics Market Situation Report 2021 Macro-economic data United Kingdom 2019 2020 2021* Population (millions) 66.8 67.1 67,4 Population growth p.a. 0.6% 0.6% 0,70% GDP (current prices, trillions) US$ 2.83 US$ 2.71 US$2.89 GDP growth rate (real) 1.7% -9.7% 6.5% GDP per capita (current prices) US$ 43,070 US$ 41,125 US$46,744 Import (billions) US$ 918.9 US$ 765 US$798 Export (billions) US$ 892.5 US$ 770.5 US$772 National debt of GDP 85,2% 104,5% 96.1% Unemployment rate 3.8% 4.5% 4.2% Inflation 1.7% 1% 4.6% *estimated
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