Abstract:

  Whatever slowdown the sector might have experienced in 2009, China's plastics industry has accelerated past 2009's economic speed bump to double-digit gains in plastic and plastic products over the first half of 2010. The Research in China report shows that synthetic resin production rose 23.21% in the first half of 2010 over the year-earlier period to 21.07 million tons. The sector's profits totaled RMB 8.04 billion ($1.183 billion), which was up 54% year-on-year, while the output of plastic products rose 21.11% to 25.76 million tons. The total industrial profit sported the gaudiest gains, hitting RMB 22 billion ($3.239 billion), up 55% year-on-year.

  By comparison, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) reported that over the first six months of 2010, resin production of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyvinyl chloride was up 5.4% from 2009 to 37.4 billion lb. Over the same time period, sales and captive use of resin reached 36.8 billion lb, up 2.6% over 2009.

  Within China, the report noted that plastic plate, pipe, and profile have the highest output among all sectors of the plastic products industry. In those markets, production reached 7.41 million tons in 2009 and 4.24 million tons in the first quarter of 2010, while the total profit reached RMB 11.14 billion ($1.678 billion) in 2009 and RMB 5.4 billion ($795 million) in the first quarter of 2010.—mpweditorial@cancom.com