Plastics Industry - A Journey Through The World From Polymers To Possibilities

Global plastics industry databook is a collection of market sizing information & forecasts, trade data, pricing intelligence, competitive benchmarking analyses, macro-environmental analyses, and regulatory & technological framework studies. Within the purview of the database, such information is systematically analyzed and provided in the form of outlook reports and summary presentations on individual areas of research along with a statistics e-book. 

The economic value generated by the plastics industry was estimated at approximately 307,966.7 kilotons in 2021. This economic output is an amalgamation of businesses that are involved in the manufacturing of plastics & their additives, distribution & supply, and application of plastics.  

Plastic Resins Market Growth & Trends

The growth of the global plastics resins market is likely to be driven by increasing consumption of plastics in the construction, automotive, medical devices, and electrical & electronics industries. Regulatory intervention to reduce vehicle weight, enhance fuel efficiency, and ultimately reduce carbon emissions has encouraged automotive OEMs to adopt plastics for fabricating automotive components.

Plastic resins are synthetic materials commonly derived from natural gas and oil. They are extensively used in various end-use industries such as packaging, automotive, construction, electrical & electronics, logistics, consumer goods, textile & clothing, furniture & bedding, agriculture, medical devices, and others.

Crystalline resin including epoxy, polyethylene (PE), and polypropylene (PP); non-crystalline resin including polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA); engineering plastics including nylon, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polycarbonate (PC), and polyamide (PA); and super engineering plastics including polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), polyether ether ketone (PEEK), and liquid crystal polymers (LCP) are some of the major types of plastic resins widely used in various end-use industries. 

Plastic Additives Market Growth & Trends

The demand for additives is ascending at a significant rate owing to their rising consumption in medical devices & equipment and various end-use industries such as healthcare, packaging, food & beverage, construction, automotive, personal care, and electronic goods. The additives are majorly used to enhance the physical and chemical properties of the materials, increase their shelf life, improve the aesthetic value and minimize the risk of microbes such as Legionella and MRSA.

Rapidly growing awareness of health-related issues in the emerging markets of Asia and North America is expected to drive the consumer industry, which in turn is expected to boost demand for additives over the forecast period.

Asia Pacific is expected to become the fastest-growing food additives market during the forecast period. China, Indonesia and India are major growth levers contributing to the construction sector growth in the region due to rising consumer disposable incomes and rising government spending on major infrastructure projects. In turn, the increasing demand for residential, commercial and institutional buildings in China due to the growing population contributes to the growth of the additives market.

Order your copy of Free Sample of “Plastics Industry Data Book - Plastic Resins, Plastic Additive, Plastic Compounds and Recycled Plastics Market Size, Share, Trends Analysis, And Segment Forecasts, 2023 - 2030” Data Book, published by Grand View Research

Plastic Compounds Market Growth & Trends

The global plastic compounding market is expected to be driven by increasing demand for plastic compounding in applications such as construction, automotive, packaging, healthcare and home appliances. The use of plastic composite products in automotive applications helps reduce fuel consumption as these products are lightweight compared to traditional materials such as rubber or metals.

Polypropylene (PP) was the leading segment in this market as of 2022. Properties such as good fatigue, chemical, and temperature resistance drive its demand in automotive, packaging, home appliances, furniture, and others. Polypropylene can be processed with all thermoplastic processing methods such as injection moulding, extrusion blow moulding and universal extrusion.

Asia Pacific was the leading regional market in 2022 and is expected to maintain its dominance over the forecast period. Rapid industrialization and robust growth in the end-use industry have fueled the growth of this market in the region. Economic developments and the resulting increase in consumer spending in emerging markets such as China and India as well as Southeast Asian countries have boosted demand for home appliances, further fueling market growth in the region.

Recycled Plastics Market Growth & Trends

The global recycled plastics market is expected to witness growth on account of rising concerns related to plastic pollution coupled with the rising product demand from various application industries such as packaging, automotive, electrical & electronics, building & construction, and textiles. Packaging led the application segment and accounted for more than 37% share of the global volume in 2022. This is used to produce a wide range of products such as composite lumber, roofing tiles, insulation, bottles used for the packaging of food & household products, and cosmetics packaging products.

Global plastic waste recycling is only 9% per year and the rest of the plastic waste ends up in natural water bodies such as oceans and landfills. In 2019, the Chinese government banned the import of 24 types of plastics from the U.S. and European countries stating that the country will focus on its domestic waste recycling. After the ban, Southeast Asia became the plastic waste dumping ground for North American and European countries.

Increasing concerns related to plastic pollution, harmful emissions with the use of petrochemicals, and depleting crude oil reserves have been driving the demand for recycled plastics. Government regulations restricting the consumption of petro-based plastics in certain applications and implementation of taxes on using non-recycled packaging products, such as food & consumer goods packaging, are expected to incentivize the production of recycled plastics.

Go through the table of content of Plastics Industry Data Book to get a better understanding of the Coverage & Scope of the study.

Competitive Landscape

Key players operating in the Plastics Industry are –

• BASF SE• Dow Inc.• DuPont• Evonik Industries AG• SABIC• Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.• Arkema• Celanese Corporation