Polystyrene and Expandable Polystyrene Market is Expected to Grow at a Healthy Rate of 5.6% from 2010–2020

Monday 20 February 2012, Amsterdam

The research presents detailed analysis and forecasts of the major economic and market trends affecting the polystyrene and expandable polystyrene markets across the world. The report contains demand, production analysis and forecasts, drivers and restraints, end-use analysis and forecasts, and market share analysis of the major producers around the world. It includes demand and production forecasts as well as historic and forecast price trends for all the major countries across the world. Overall, the report presents a comprehensive analysis of the global polystyrene and expandable polystyrene market covering all the major parameters.

Polystyrene and Expandable Polystyrene Market is Expected to Grow at a Healthy Rate of 5.6% from 2010–2020

The global demand for polystyrene and expandable polystyrene increased from 13 million tons in 2000 to around 14.9 million tons in 2010. The demand grew at a CAGR of 1.4% during 2000-2010. Packaging, construction, appliances and consumer electronics industries were the major consumers of polystyrene and expandable polystyrene. Some of the major markets for polystyrene and expandable polystyrene have reached a saturation point, which has limited the demand growth for polystyrene and expandable polystyrene in those regions. The global demand for polystyrene and expandable polystyrene is rising within developing countries such as China, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Brazil.

In the forecast period 2010-2020, the global demand is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.7%, to increase the overall demand for polystyrene and expandable polystyrene to 23.5 million tons by 2020.

See figure: Polystyrene and Expandable Polystyrene, Global, Demand (Million Tons), 2000-2020

Asian Countries to Drive the Global Demand for Polystyrene and Expandable Polystyrene

The Asia-Pacific region was the major consumer for polystyrene and expandable polystyrene in global market in 2010, with a demand share of 53.4%. With the fast growing economy of China, Asia-Pacific dominance in the global polystyrene and expandable polystyrene market is expected to increase further, to achieve 62.8% of the global demand share by 2020. With growth in the developing countries of Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Middle East is expected to retain its demand share of 1.7% by 2020. Due to the comparatively slower demand growth from all other regions, their demand shares are expected to decline in the forecast period.

Expandable Polystyrene Demand Will See More Rapid Growth than Polystyrene Demand from 2010-2020

The global polystyrene market saw a marginal net decline in demand over the past decade, whereas global expandable polystyrene demand grew at a CAGR of 5.5% during the period 2000-2010. The major portion of this demand growth came from China, which consumed more than half of the global expandable polystyrene demand in 2010. China’s demand for expandable polystyrene is expected to continue to increase at a high rate over the forecast period, while other developing countries are expected to support the overall growth. Therefore, during the forecast period 2010-2020, the expandable polystyrene demand is expected to increase at a CAGR of 7.3%, compared to polystyrene’s expected CAGR of 2.8% during the same period.

Consistently Growing Packaging and Construction Industries are Expected to Drive the Global Polystyrene and Expandable Polystyrene Market

Packaging was the dominant end-use sector for both polystyrene and expandable polystyrene globally. The packaging industry consumed 41.5% of global polystyrene demand and 47.9% of global expandable polystyrene demand in 2010. After packaging, the construction industry was the second major polystyrene consuming industry, accounting for 47.8% of expandable polystyrene and 7.7% of polystyrene consumption at a global level, along with furniture and building industries. These two industries are expected to drive the global demand for polystyrene and expandable polystyrene in the forecast period as well.