China’s PE, PP, PS, ABS demand to grow by up to 2.1% in 2009

18 May 2009 04:21  [Source: ICIS news]

GUANGZHOU (ICIS news)--China’s demand for polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) is expected to grow by up to 2.1% this year, mainly driven by domestic consumption, an industry official said late on Sunday.

“Domestic consumption and investments will be the main drivers of GDP [gross domestic product] growth [in China] this year,” said Liao Zhengpin chairman of China Plastics Processing Industry Association (CPPIA).

“China’s total exports may register negative growth this year due to the deepening global financial crisis,” Liao said in Mandarin. He was speaking at the Cross-Strait Plastics Industry Summit held in Guangzhou, ahead of Chinaplas 2009.

Liao noted that recently released economic data showed that the Chinese economy had recovered slightly, mainly due to investments in fixed assets, although he cautioned against premature optimism.

“Many medium and large-sized companies have bounced back to normal business mode, but things are still not looking up for many other small and medium-sized companies. Hence we expect plastics demand to maintain a low growth rate this year,” he said.

Liao estimated that China’s PE, PP, PS and ABS consumption would rise to 11.6m tonnes, 10.3m tonnes, 3.7m tonnes and 3.4m tonnes this year, up 0.7%, 2.1%, 0.2% and 1.6%, respectively, from last year.

Despite the slower demand growth, China was expected to have 4m tonnes of PE and PP added this year, as Dushanzi Petrochemical, Tianjin Petrochemical and Fujian Refining and Petrochemical (FREP) were planning to start up their new plants in months ahead, said Liao.

China was expected to have a total of 8.826m tonnes of PE and 9.616m tonnes of PP capacity by the end of this year, he said.

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By: Chow Bee Lin
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