Growth in European bio-attributed chemical projects has stalled, with projects being pushed back or moved because of cost pressures and weak demand.
Various companies planned projects to produce bio-attributed chemicals in Europe, with many originally scheduled to come online before 2028. Current Argus tracking indicate many of these are now likely to come online in 2029-30. Weak demand, cost pressures and, at times, a lack of feedstock are all behind decisions to delay or move projects.
The Moller Holding-owned chemical start-up Vioneo is "pulling out" of Europe, and shifting its planned 300,000 t/yr methanol-to-polymers plant to China to enable "a faster route to market", it said in January. The company initially planned to bring a plant online in 2028 in Antwerp, Belgium. Production is now likely to take place in China in 2029-30, with capacity unchanged, the company said. The firm's priority is to bring "fossil-free plastics to market as quickly as possible", and moving to China will allow it to be more competitive on pricing, it said.
Bioethylene company Syclus had intended to start production in 2026, with 100,000 t/yr planned for a site in Geleen, the Netherlands. This is now more likely to be completed in 2030.
Futerro, which is planning a polylactic acid (PLA) plant in Port Jerome, France, will aim for production at its site to start "no later than 2029", it said, after initial attempts to commercialise by 2027. The plant will have the capacity to produce up to 75,000 t/yr of PLA derived from plant starches.
Blue Circle Olefins aims to bring a 200,000 t/yt methanol-to-olefins (MTO) site in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, online in 2030. The site will aim to use "sustainable" methanol as a feedstock, and the company signed a long-term offtake agreement with Dutch polypropylene producer Ducor Petrochemicals in November 2025.
Finnish forestry group UPM aims to produce bio-monoethylene glycol (bio-MEG), bio-monopropylene glycol (bio-MPG) and industrial sugars at its site in Leuna, Germany, this year. It expects to enter the commercial market with products from Leuna in the first half, with total capacity at the site being 220,000 t/yr of biochemicals.
Sustainability has fallen down the list of priorities for some large packaging companies, with cost pressure persisting, particularly in Europe. This week, chemical producer LyondellBasell cut its 2030 target for producing and marketing recycled and renewable-based polymers to 800,000 t/yr from 2mn t/yr.
Demand for sustainable plastics anticipated to follow pledges made by some packaged goods companies in 2019-20 has not come to pass, putting pressure on sustainable plastic production.
Europe is at a structural disadvantage for fossil-based chemicals, compared with other producing regions with cheaper energy prices and feedstocks, and the story is similar for biochemical demand.
A European Bioeconomy Strategy, launched at the end of 2025, aims to support the use of bio-based plastics and novel materials by 2027 alongside recycling.
Currently operational projects for bio-attributed chemicals and bio-attributed plastics total over 1.5mn t/yr of capacity, compared with planned projects in Europe totalling 741,000 t/yr by 2030, Argus projections show as tracked in the Biochemicals and bioplastics project tracker. Regulatory support will be key for projects to succeed, along with factors including proximity to feedstock. Sustainable methanol and ethanol feedstock projects require access to a steady supply of feedstock to compete with fossil-fuel-based projects.
"The European bio-plastics industry faces similar hurdles to other European industries — trade hurdles, investment hurdles, competition with other regions in the world," the EU Policy Affairs manager from the European Bioplastics industry working group said in November 2025. "We developed a lot of the bioplastics technology in Europe but the industrialisation can often take place outside of Europe because of lower energy costs and investment opportunities."
