The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) polymer industry is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 3% to 34.5mn tonnes by 2022, supporting further downstream development, according to the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA).
In 2016, the GCC plastics producers’ sales represented 4% of the global industry sales, reaching $33bn to $34bn and the industry’s capacity expanded by as much as 5%, reaching 27.1mn tonnes, GPCA said in a report, which is to be released at the 8th edition of its PlastiCon.
In previous years, Saudi Arabia alone accounted for 2% of global polymer sales, and ranked as the eighth largest plastics producer globally.
“Petrochemical producers are increasingly diversifying their portfolios, investing in new products and moving away from traditional commodity polymers towards specialties such as engineering plastics and elastomers. This is, in turn, supporting the expansion and development of the entire downstream industry in the region,” Dr Abdulwahab al-Sadoun, secretary general of the GPCA, said.
Synthetic rubbers would witness the biggest number of products to be introduced in the following years, benefiting from expected growth in the transport and automotive sectors. By 2022, nearly 70% of the incremental supply growth is expected to come from polymers, which represent 89% of the GCC polymers capacity.
The GCC engineering and specialty polymers output grew by 15% in 2016, reaching 2.5mn tonnes, the GPCA report said, adding the industry also comprises nearly 40,000 employees with additional 118,000 in supporting sectors.
The Gulf polymer consumption increased by 4% in 2016, reaching 5mn tonnes with Saudi Arabia accounting for 67% of the GCC polymer resins production in 2016 and was the largest polymers consumer in the GCC, followed by the UAE that accounted for 19%.
Highlighting that industrial packaging is the fastest growing end user market for polymers in the region, it said consumer packaging accounts for 44%, followed by the construction industry which accounted for more than a fifth. Plastic consumption in the GCC is increasing rapidly and reached 94kg per capita in 2016.
Plastics consumption in Qatar is the fastest growing in the region, growing at 14% between 2006 and 2016. This is double the growth posted by market leaders Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the report found.
Qatar however has the lowest consumption ratio to total polymer output. In 2016, that was just over 11%, much lower than in other countries. In 2016, Oman enjoyed the highest ratio of polymer consumption to output in the region (48%).
Al-Sadoun: u201cPetrochemical producers are increasingly diversifying their portfolios.u201d
