U.S. Petrochemical Market Analysis And Forecast To 2020

U.S. Petrochemical Market analysis and forecast to 2020

21-Jul-16

The U.S. has a 9% share (based on US$) of global petrochemical imports, which puts it in fourth place, trailing China (22%), Belgium (14%) and Germany (10%). In 2015, U.S. petrochemical imports totaled US$1,821 mln, which was US$1293 mln (42%) less than the year before. U.S. petrochemical imports fluctuated wildly from 2007 to 2015, as per IndexBox Marketing. A dramatic fall in 2009 was followed by rocketing growth over the next two years, until imports decreased again through to 2013, before finally stabilizing in 2014. However, this leveling off quickly gave way to a precipitous drop in 2015.

In 2011, U.S. petrochemical importers overtook their pre-recession import level achieved in 2008. After the plunge of 2015, though, imports hit their bottom level, falling even deeper than in 2009. Despite this nosedive in 2015, the U.S. still demands approximately 1,8 billion USD worth of petrochemicals from overseas. Canada was the main supplier into the U.S., with a 60% share of total U.S. imports in 2015, based on USD. It was distantly followed by South Africa (10%), China (6%) and Brazil (6%). Imports from Canada decreased at an average annual rate of -7.7% over the period under review. Meanwhile, China was the fastest growing supplier (+14.4% per year) from 2007 to 2015, followed by Brazil (+13.5% per year) and South Africa (+2.2% per year). South Africa, China and Brazil strengthened their positions in the U.S. import structure by +5 percentage points each from 2007 to 2015, while Canada lost -10 percentage points over the same period.

From 2007 to 2015, the U.S. was a net importer of petrochemical. Net US imports of petrochemical swung frenziedly over the period under review, however, from 2010 to 2014, they remained significantly above 1 billion USD. In 2015, the trade deficit plummeted to 252 million USD, following the abrupt drop of imports.