India polyolefins demand to grow - Haldia

13 June 2007 02:54  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--India’s polyolefins consumption is forecast to grow at an average of 12% per year till 2011, in line with the country’s robust economic performance in the same period, a Haldia Petrochemicals official said late on Tuesday.

“The Indian economy is estimated to grow by 8-9% over the next few years. We expect to see a boom in the retail and housing sectors,” said SK Debnath, general manager, polyethylene marketing.

“This boom will happen because people’s income is growing and the middle class is expanding,” he said, noting that the average age of India’s working population is 25 years old, an indication of the country’s strong consumption power.

Key contributions to the burgeoning Indian economy include the government’s push for infrastructure developments and increasing foreign direct investments in the recent years, he said.

Despite the expected high demand growth rate, India will have 3m tonnes of surplus polyolefins by 2011, as local capacities are expected to increase at a faster pace, he said.

“India will have around 5m tonnes of additional polyolefins capacity by 2011, and local polyolefins demand may not catch up,” he said, adding that India could have around 3m tonnes of surplus polyolefins for export by then.

“India is estimated to have close to 400,000 tonnes of surplus polypropylene (PP) this year, and local polyethylene (PE) demand and supply are expected to be balanced.”

India is estimated to have consumed around 1.9m tonnes of PE and 1.55m tonnes of PP last year.

Haldia is one of the major polyolefins producers in India. Other key local producers include Reliance, GAIL and Indian Oil Corp.

By: Chow Bee Lin
+65 6780 4359

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