by Sean Milmo
European Correspondent
milmocw@rodmanmedia.com
The short-term outlook for biomaterials in coatings and related sectors in Europe has been looking grim in the wake of the
fall in the oil price. However companies along
the biomaterials value chain in the region are
not overtly concerned. In the long-term they
think social and market trends are working in
their favor. In the second half of last year oil
prices dropped by 50-60 percent in dollar terms.
This widened the cost differential between biochemicals and mineral oil-based materials after
a period in which the gap has been narrowing.
Oil prices started to creep up again in Europe
to a level of $60-70 per barrel earlier this year.
But by the end of July they had dropped back
to around $50. For the 18 eurozone member
states the overall cost increase over the past
year has been higher because of the deprecia-
tion of the euro against the dollar.
Prices for agricultural feedstocks for biomaterials have also been declining but not as
sharply as those for crude oil. Over the past
year world agricultural commodity prices have
gone down by an average of around 10 percent.
But the cost of some key feedstocks decreased
more steeply – for example, soyabean oil by
15 percent and corn/maize by 18 percent. The
world price of sugar, which is an important
feedstock for a range of new biochemicals used
in coatings, has plummeted by a third over the
last 12 months. But in the European Union the
fall has been half that because of EU restriction
on sugar imports.
“The widening of the price difference between biochemicals and petrochemical-de-rived materials is a disadvantage in the market
at the moment, even though the biochemicals
The short-term
outlook for
biomaterials
in coatings in
Europe has been
looking grim
in the wake of
falling oil prices.
Howeverm in
the long term,
companies along
the biomaterials
value chain, think
that social and
market trends are
working in their
favor.
Biomaterials Market in Europe Poised for Growth
