markets feature | Global polymer trends
Although South America has long been regarded as a region of considerable potential for strong growth, particularly Brazil, growth has in reality been erratic with the industry held back by a number of factors. These include: weak and unstable governments; high debt burdens; a dependency on globally traded commodities (making the region vulnerable to external economic shocks); burdensome import tariffs; high energy costs; and infrastructure bottlenecks. These factors will continue to limit its potential.
End use applications for polymers 2013 Source: AMI Consulting, 2014
The strongest growth is expected to occur in the Indian sub-continent, a region which has a population greater than that of China but with a polymer demand that is currently one-fi fth of the size. The market is being driven by policy relaxations, allowing greater foreign direct investment and closer integration with the global economy to drive investment in petrochemicals, polymer production and downstream plastics process- ing. However, the region also faces many challenges, particularly with regard to its infrastructure, technical capabilities and global competitiveness. Strong economic growth is needed to drive rising living standards and increasing consumption of consumer goods from packaged foods to automobiles. Investment in infrastructure and agriculture will also be important in driving the plastics industry in the region. Europe is expected to be the region showing the
slowest growth overall. Market demand there has been relatively static at around 44-45 million tonnes for the past three or four years, largely because of the effects of the Eurozone crisis, which has inhibited recovery from the impact of the global fi nancial crisis in 2008-2009. However, the EU is also at the forefront of environmental initiatives to reduce, recycle and reuse polymers, which has impacted on volume growth for polymers. Polymer processing in the region, especially within the EU, remains under pressure from rising costs, particularly energy costs. After many years of relatively slow growth, the
market outlook for the North American region is now far more positive thanks to the increasing availability of globally competitive gas feedstocks, which is driving investment in new petrochemical plants. This will help to reduce the cost of polymers, particularly polyethyl- ene, and re-energise the plastics processing industry.
22 COMPOUNDING WORLD | November 2014
The Asia-Pacifi c region slightly underperforms in relation to the global average because of the effects of the mature and slow growing Japanese market. Without Japan, the region’s growth is at least one percentage point higher. Huge potential still exists within the Indonesia, Vietnamese, Korean and Malaysian markets.
Packaging leads the way
AMI’s analysis looks in detail at where and how polymers are used around the world. Although they are used in a wide variety of different applications, packag- ing has come to dominate the end-use markets for polymer. This is true in all geographic areas of the world. Overall, packaging accounts for around half of all polymers processed in volume terms, split fairly evenly between fl exible and rigid products.
Of the remaining applications, the building and
construction sector makes up a further 20% of demand. This means that despite the attention given to automo- tive, medical and electrical applications, they remain a relatively small part of the overall industry in volume terms, although these markets often represent much higher added value to the polymer used. The relative importance of each market varies with
polymer. Thus for polyethylene and PET, for example, the packaging industry is far more signifi cant – account- ing for over 70% of use – than it is for many of the engineering resins which fi nd their main applications in automotive and electrical products.
Fragmented industry structure In general terms, plastics processing in most parts of the world is characterised by a fragmented industry structure which involves a large number of small- to medium-sized companies. AMI has calculated that there are probably over 230,000 plastics processing operations in the world. Traditionally the industry has been quite entrepre- neurial with new businesses being set up to replace any lost through acquisition or liquidation. However, in recent years the process of structural change has been more one of rationalisation, particularly in developed markets, driven by the ever more competitive pressures
www.compoundingworld.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88