China emerges as leader in global PVC production

20-Jan-11

Global installed PVC capacity is currently 47.5 mln tpa, and is expected to grow to 59.1 mln tpa in 2020. Global PVC production has grown from 24.7 mln tons in 2000 to 32.3 mln tons in 2009, and is expected to reach around 55.2 mln tons in 2020, as per a report by Research and Markets. Natural gas is the major feedstock used for the production of PVC followed by Naphtha. Coal based derivatives are a newly emerging feedstock for PVC production. The suspension polymerization technique is the most widely used production process to produce PVC and accounts for more than 78% of the PVC produced in the world. The other important production processes are micro-suspension polymerization, emulsion polymerization and mass polymerization