Asia remained the largest and dominant region in the global petrochemicals market in 2016 due to the presence of a robust manufacturing industry in China and South East Asia, said a report.

Europe and America were the second and third largest markets for petrochemicals, said the report titled, “Petrochemicals Market Global Report 2017” by Ken Research.

The report focuses on the global petrochemical market and covers various characteristics of the market such as its shape and size.

The report also lays forth the competitive landscape of the global petrochemicals market and gives a detailed analysis of the key players in the market, their revenues, descriptions and market shares. The main products involved in the petrochemical industry are benzene, propylene, ethylene, toluene, xylene, styrene, and cumene and the various dominant regions are Asia, Europe, Middle East, Oceania, Africa etc.

One of the key drivers for the petrochemicals industry in the period 2016-2020 is the expected increase in demand of the products by the packaging industry. This is mainly due to the growth in those industries which consume products of plastic packaging.

Due to the increasing keenness on the side of the producers to have an enhanced packaging of their products, the packaging industry is growing considerably, both in terms of revenue and in product innovation, the report said.  

Also, Asia is a leading end-user market for many products of petrochemicals industry, which is resulting in the growth of the industry significantly.

Today, the petrochemical industry has become indispensable owing to the enormous role it plays in the manufacturing and various consumption sectors which roll out products like plastics, paint, dyes, rubber, fertilisers, detergents, textiles and solvents.

In the beginning of the 21st century, Middle East has emerged as a production hub for petrochemical products due to availability of the low cost feedstock for the industry and due to the rapid growth in demand in China for petrochemical products, the major consumption centres are shifting from Europe and America to Asia, the report said.

The chemical intensive and export driven manufacturing industries of China are demanding petrochemical products like never before and thereby giving rise to increased consumption in those regions. India has also emerged as a high consumption region globally.

However, apart from opportunities, several challenges also lay in the path, notably relating to carbon emissions, climate change in the wake of increasing environmental concerns globally. This calls for a well-planned out and efficient roadmap for these companies to follow in the uncertain future tackling the challenges and exploiting the opportunities. It can thereby be concluded that undoubtedly the market will prosper in the coming years but it also has to face a lot of hurdles that may intervene in the overall expansion, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service