Fact Sheet | Socio-economic contribution of Polycarbonate in Italy | 0313 | Page 1 of 2 Polycarbonate in Italy: A major contributor to the country’s economy and quality of life Polycarbonate is a lightweight, highly versatile, durable, heat and shatter resistant, formable and transparent thermoplastic. It is the material of choice for a wide range of end-user applications as diverse as DVDs, spectacles and optical lenses, car headlamps and parts, transparent roofs in construction, or medical devices. Italy has no own polycarbonate production and therefore European production and consumption depends on imports from other countries to supply its Italian of polycarbonate by countries industries´ needs of this high performance plastics material. Denmark However, due to its function as enabling technology, almost Sweden -/2% 46,000 jobs were related to the use of polycarbonate in Italy -/3% in 2010. During the past two decades, Italy´s polycarbonate UK Poland consumption grew by nearly 4% on an annualized basis. In -/10% Netherlands -/5% Italy 20%/5% 2010, Italy consumed about 12% of the EU production of -/12% Germany Czech polycarbonate, thereby generating ca. 2.9 billion Euro of 40%/22% Republic -/4% value added. Austria France Belgium -/4% -/11% 20%/3% Over 85% of Italy´s consumption of polycarbonate is concentrated in four key economic sectors: the Building & Italy Other -/12% Construction, Electrical & Electronics, the Automotive and -/12% Spain 20%/7% Production Consumption gures 2010 fi Leisure and Safety industries. In many of these applications polycarbonate is critical to Italian consumption of transforming the functional characteristics of components polycarbonate by sectors or end uses. This means: Polycarbonate cannot be replaced Building and by any other material if the same material performance Construction incl. lighting 38% characteristics are required. Over 80% of Italy´s consumption of polycarbonate is used in these unique applications, Other Electrical/ 10% Electronic 31% creating about 2.3 billion Euro of value added. Automotive incl. Head- In these unique applications, outputs are dependent upon lights 10% polycarbonate, and so are the working places of the people Leisure and producing them: 3,000 jobs in the processing, and 43,000 Safety incl. jobs related to the manufacturing and sale of end products Eyewear 7% fi gures 2010 fi are related directly and indirectly to polycarbonate in unique applications in Italy. * All fi gures in this document are based on the year 2010. The fi gures have been determined in a conservative approach ensuring that only the jobs and value added that could be uniquely attributed to polycarbonate should be counted in this value chain. www.bisphenol-a-europe.org Fact Sheet | Socio-economic contribution of Polycarbonate in Italy | 0313 | Page 2 of 2 Polycarbonate added value and unique applications in Italy Building and Construction 80% unique 1.102 mio € Polycarbonate is of particular importance for the Italian design- Electrical/ Electronic 80% unique related industries. Italy is the world´s leader in lighting. The 899 mio € Italian production of residential, commercial and industrial Other 100% unique lighting produces an annual output of more than 2.3 billion 406 mio € Euro – more than 60% of this is exported. Nearly 1,000 small and medium sized companies in the Italian eyewear industry, Automotive sustaining over 16,000 jobs, generate an annual output of over 290 mio € 70% unique 2.5 billion Euro with products such as sunglasses, ski goggles, ophthalmic lenses, frames and safety wear. Leisure & Safety incl. Eyewear 100% unique 203 mio € Because of its toughness, transparency, temperature stability figures 2010 and design benefits, polycarbonate is widely used in the manufacture of domestic appliances. Italy, alongside with base. The competitive position of a significant number of leading Germany, is one of the leading producers of domestic Italian companies depends upon the continued exploitation of appliances in Europe, accounting for 23% of the European the many and unique properties of polycarbonate. It offers output. solutions to modern societies to meet the emerging needs for lower weight, greater safety and security, lower risks and Polycarbonate is a dynamic enabling platform technology for improved well-being, while at the same time reducing costs and innovation, thus helping to sustain the UK´s manufacturing improving the product performance. Contact Italian polycarbonate consumption: industrial cluster regions Jasmin Bird Manager Communications PC/BPA-Group PlasticsEurope L Friuli Tel: +32 2 676 1738 Trentino Südtirol E [email protected] E L L A www.bisphenol-a-europe.org Aosta D E M M L Valley L E D D L D Veneto D A Lombardy A E M A E A A A M Emilia-Romagna M M Piedmont D L M D Liguria M Marehe Tuscany L D A Automotive Umbria L Lighting D Domestic appliances E Eyewear Abruzzo Lazio M Medical Molise Disclaimer: This information is supplied in good faith by the PC/BPA Industry Group of Plastics Europe, and is based on the best information currently available. While every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy, the PC/BPA Group does not accept liability for loss or damage, howsoever caused, arising from the use of the information..