Asia growth to drive world capro market - report

03 November 2008 16:10  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS news)--The world caprolactam market should exceed 5m tonnes/year by 2012, driven by the Asian textile and engineering plastics industries, US-based market research consultancy Global Industry Analysts (GIA) said on Monday.

“Subdued demand in Europe and North America is expected to be partially offset by the promising opportunities accorded by Asia-Pacific, with growth in the future expected to stem from Asia,” said the GIA report, which surveyed 36 caprolactam producers across Europe, North America and Asia.

The report, found that the marked shift of nylon 6 production centres into Asia would see China, Taiwan and South Korea emerge as chief caprolactam consumers.

The three Asian countries offered “an environment fertile for the growth of engineering plastic resins, which represents a high-value end-use market for caprolactam”, according to the GIA report.

Asia-Pacific and Europe dominate the world caprolactam market, accounting for 72.9% of demand in 2008, GIA said.

By 2009, China would be expected to outperform the Taiwanese and Korean markets and remain the only viable market for caprolactam capacity expansion, the report said.

From 2008 to 2012, annual caprolactam consumption in the textiles end-use market is expected to rise by 246,000 tonnes, according to GIA.

The report also noted that Russia’s consumption of caprolactam was projected to reach 69,400 tonnes/year by 2010 due to rising demand from nylon producers.

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By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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