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April/May 2008
Plastics Information Direct, the technical publishing division of Applied Market Information Ltd., has published a unique techno-economic study entitled Polyurethane in China Market Report. Commissioned and published in its Expert Witness Series, this entirely new report has been written by local staff of PU World, the leading Chinese provider of electronic information on the polyurethane industry.
China is already the biggest polyurethane market in the world, and forecast to grow at a remarkable 10 percent per year for the next 12 years, with downstream customer industries growing at similar rates. However, in spite of its scale, the industry is still relatively immature and supply chains are incomplete. The first feedstock plant was constructed in China in the 1950s, but development of the industry was slow until the 1980s and 1990s. Recent economic advances have created huge markets for PU in areas such as vehicles, domestic appliances and furnishings, and there are clearly many opportunities for local and overseas firms to flourish.
Many firms are looking for opportunities to work with Chinese partners or access Chinese markets. However, it can be difficult to find reliable information about the structure of an industry and the key players within it. Investment decisions are based on many factors, and the polyurethane industry is particularly complex. Local knowledge is particularly valuable, which is why Plastics Information Direct commissioned Shanghai-based PU World to write this report.
To order a copy of the report, visit www.pidbooks.com.
The Chinese market for advanced materials increased from $24.6 billion in 2006 to $30.5 billion by the end of 2007, according to a report recently published by BCC Research (www.bccresearch.com). It should reach $60.5 billion by 2012, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.7 percent. Advanced materials include advanced ceramics, advanced polymers, advanced composites, energy materials, nano materials and advanced metals and alloys.
Advanced metals and alloys and nano materials are expected to grow at the fastest rates among major industry segments, reaching CAGRs of 19.0 percent and 18.0 percent respectively from 2007 to 2012.
In the segment of advanced nonmetal materials, advanced polymers and advanced composites are the largest groups.
Advanced Electron Beams (AEB) has entered into a sponsored research agreement with the Department of Plastics Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Considered the premier plastics engineering program in the United States, the UMass department will explore the effect of low energy electron beams on polymers and plastics.
Under the direction of UMass Lowell professor Stephen McCarthy, Ph.D., and aided by AEB’s technical representative Somchintana Norasetthekul, Ph.D., the sponsored research project will enable UMass Lowell to investigate low energy industrial electron beams at atmospheric pressure, and the effect that the beams have on polymeric and plastic materials. To maximize beneficial project results, the research team will study a wide range of substances under varying conditions.
“Working with AEB will enable research that will expand the department’s understanding of electron beams and their benefits to industrial processing,” said McCarthy. “The information we gather and co-publish will examine methods for manufacturers to reduce energy consumption and eliminate the use of dangerous chemicals during their industrial processes.”
Involving graduate student research, this one-year project marks the beginning of a long-term innovative relationship between the UMass Lowell and AEB. During the course of this relationship, graduates will explore the chemical, physical and mechanical changes to the surface and thin film properties of a variety of polymeric and plastic materials under radiation, analyzing and documenting the results.
“Through the sponsored research agreement with AEB, UMass Lowell students and researchers will have the chance to explore new avenues in plastics engineering. We expect the findings that result will benefit not only the University and AEB, but the entire field,” said UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan.
Global demand for thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) is forecast to increase 6.3 percent per year through 2011 to 3.7 million metric tons. China will expand its share of the world market from under 30 percent in 2006 to over 33 percent in 2011, although the United States will remain the world’s largest manufacturer of some products such as olefinic based TPEs. TPEs will continue to find the majority of their use as replacements for natural and synthetic rubber, as well as for rigid thermoplastics and metals. These and other trends are presented in World Thermoplastic Elastomers, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc. (www.freedoniagroup.com).
Through 2011, China’s TPE market (the world’s largest market in metric tons) will expand and diversify rapidly based on the country’s significant position in the production of many of the key products manufactured with TPEs (e.g., footwear, motor vehicles, housewares, appliances, sporting goods, hand and power tools, and industrial machinery). Currently, a large portion of TPE demand in China is devoted to the country’s massive footwear industry.
Global TPE sales will remain concentrated in the developed markets of the United States, Western Europe and Japan, particularly for higher performance materials such as copolyester elastomers (COPEs) and thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs). Growth prospects through 2011, however, will be strongest in developing countries. Most developing markets have initially focused on low-cost styrenic block copolymers (SBCs) due to their existing positions in styrene-butadiene and polybutadiene rubber, but some such as China are also significantly diversifying into compounded thermoplastic polyolefins (TPOs) and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs).
Motor vehicles will remain the largest market for TPEs at the global level. The smaller medical products and consumer and sporting goods sectors will remain the fastest growing markets for TPEs through 2011.
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