ARTICLES

  • A surge in new capacity coming from low-cost producers in North America, Middle East and China is driving the global PE and PP market to oversupply, which will pressure margins for producers and change the global competitive landscape. Demand for PE is growing in Latin America thanks to an expanding middle class. A supply shortfall will drive the region to import approximately 50% of its PE needs by 2025, mostly from capacity expansions led by shale gas projects in USA. Of the over 24 MMT of new PE capacity that will be added globally to 2020, approximately 8 MMTwill come from the US. PE imports into Europe from the Middle East in 2016 have surpassed 2015 numbers and will continue to arrive in Europe at relatively high levels. Read more in Imports from USA to meet Latin America's growing PE demand, Europe to continue with high PE imports from Middle East
  • The geosynthetics market is segmented into geotextiles, geomembranes, geogrids, geofoams, geonets. This market is expected to register CAGR of double digits till 2020 owing to evolving environmental protection regulations and standards that has led to the rise in adoption of geosynthetics across the world. Growth in the developing countries of Central and South America, Europe and APAC has risen due to the increased application in infrastructure development projects such as construction and maintenance of the transport infrastructure (roadway and railway). To know about the emerging trends driving demand, challenges faced, the regions with growing demand, and growing applications, etc, read Rise in demand for roadway and railway infrastructure to prop global geosynthetics market through 2020
  • Geomembranes is one of the fastest growing applications of the geosynthetics market. Increasing expenditure for waste and water management programs in India, China, Germany and Russia is expected to drive demand in the global market. In the near future, an increase in the demand of minerals and metals will prop mining to number one position. Entry barriers are low, hence new players can easily enter the market. HDPE finds the largest application; while PVC, polypropylene, butyl rubber and ethylene inter polymer alloy (EIA) will find increasing application. Despite several restraining factors and challenges faced, market players are finding new applications to drive the growth of the market. Read more in Demand from the global geomembrane market estimated to surpass US$2 bln by 2022
  • Major marine composite products include glass fiber composites, foam core materials and carbon fiber composites. Increased strength & fuel efficiency, reduced weight and flexibility in design provide a competitive advantage to marine composites over conventional materials. Key applications include speed boats, cruise ships, power boats and sail boats manufacturing. Power boat manufacturing dominated the end-use market, carbon fiber composites is expected to witness significant growth over the next six years. Reduced manufacturing cost owing to technological innovations, increasing disposable income, growing leisure market is expected to drive demand for cruise ships and yachts which will aid the global marine composite market. Stringent safety & health regulations and rising prices are anticipated to negatively influence the market, while recyclability and reparability issues associated with marine composites are major challenges faced. After USA, emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil show promising growth prospects. Read more in Global marine composites market poised to surge to US$2 bln by 2021
  • Rigid plastic bottles segment has the largest share of global rigid plastic packaging market and will show growth amid growing population, increase in urbanization, increased disposable income and growing demand for beverages and household care products, as well as demand from pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. The rigid plastic containers segment is expected to be the slowest growing, while demand from APAC is likely to grow rapidly. The competitive environment in this market is expected to intensify in the future, with increase in product extensions, innovations in technology, and more M&A. Read more in Demand from end-user industry, rising urban population to drive global rigid plastic packaging demand till 2020