coatings - the biggest end-user industry”
UV curable resins are employed for the
formulation of UV curable coatings, inks,
adhesives, etc. Coatings manufacturing is
the biggest as well as the fastest-growing
application segment of UV curable resins,
consuming more than 65.0 percent of the
total global demand in 2012. Due to the
green nature of UV curable coatings and
an extremely less curing time, it is seen
as an incredibly attractive alternative by
various end-user industries. Field applied
coatings and metal coating applications
(coil, automotive, etc.) are expected to
be the key growth areas for UV curable
coatings in the near future. The UV curable inks market is also growing considerably on account of strict norms related
to printing on food packaging. Industrial
coating is the biggest end-user industry of
UV curable resins, consuming more than
35.0 percent of the total global demand
in 2012. The industrial coating industry is dominant around the globe unlike
electronics which is only dominant in
Asia-Pacific.
Zepol Reports U.S. Imports
in 2013 Were the Highest in
Six Years
Zepol Corp. reports that U.S. vessel imports were up 3. 7 percent from 2012,
which totaled more than 18.2 million
TEUs (twenty-foot container) brought
into the U.S. last year. U.S. imports in
2013 started off at a slow start but ended
with a surge from July through December.
Annual TEUs haven’t been this high since
2007, which is a good sign for a strong
recession rebound in the U.S. trade industry, Zepol reported. So far in 2014, the
first three weeks of imports in January
are already 5.2 percent higher than the
same time last year.
“It was a surprise to see 2013 imports
so high since the beginning of the year was
relatively stagnant,” said U.S. trade expert and CEO of Zepol Paul Rasmussen,
“but imports have continued to expand
during the recent economic recovery and
factors like a dropping unemployment
rate and a busy holiday shopping season
may be positive contributors for U.S. importers. We expect the increasing trend to
continue as we move into 2014.”
Ceresana Analyzes Global
Market for Styrene
In the recently published study, the market research institute Ceresana comprehensively analyzes and describes the
development of the global market for
styrene. Styrene is an important product
in the petrochemical industry and used to
manufacture a broad range of products.
The importance of styrene is reflected by
the revenues generated with this product:
market value amounted to $41.8 billion
in 2012.
Approximately 40 percent of the styrene consumed worldwide in 2012 were
processed into polystyrene. Polystyrene is
used in the manufacturing of food packaging as well as electrical and electronic
devices. The global economy will continue to recover during the next few years
and thus provide the general framework
for a moderate increase of demand for
this type of plastic. The report finds that
demand for polystyrene will not increase
as dynamically as demand for other standard plastics due to a change in technologies and advancing substitution processes.
Market researchers at Ceresana forecast
global demand for styrene in the production of polystyrene to rise by, on average,
2.3 percent per year.
The second largest sales market is the
production of expandable polystyrene
(EPS), which is used as insulation mate-
rial in new residential units and the refur-
bishment of old buildings, among others.
Styrene based engineering plastics, such
as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS)
are used by the automotive and elec-
tronics industry, while styrene-butadiene
rubber (SBR) is processed into tires.
Styrene-butadiene latex (SBL) is utilized
in carpets and paper coatings. Another
application is the manufacturing of un-
saturated polyester resins (UPR), which
are processed into fiberglass suitable for
automotive bodyworks and naval vessels
due to its rigidity. According to the analy-
ses of Ceresana, the production of ABS
and EPS will provide the largest stimuli
to growth in the future. Demand in these
segments is projected to increase by 4.1
percent and 3. 8 percent p.a. until 2020.
While the ABS industry is still in the ini-
tial stages in many emerging countries
with excellent growth prospects,
producers of EPS in several in-
dustrialized countries are able to
profit from state-subsidies tar-
geted at increasing energy efficiency. Even
on saturated markets, this can provide
growth impulses.
In the end, consumption of styrene depends on the demand of consumers for the
different styrene based products. Thus,
emerging countries exhibiting strong economic growth and a rising income offer
a considerable potential. Conditions as
propitious as these attract investment in
the expansion of the downstream styrene industry. On the long term, this will
lead to an establishing of an ever larger
part of the value creation chain in these
countries. As result, demand for styrene
in some countries will rise significantly.
An example for a development of this
kind is China. In the past eight years, demand for styrene in this country rose by
9. 6 percent per year. China is the worldwide largest sales market, accounting for
31. 5 percent of market shares in 2012.
The U.S. followed at a considerable distance, after demand for styrene fell by, on
average, 1.9 percent p.a. since 2004.
Global production of styrene is increasingly relocating to emerging countries, while developed industrialized
regions reduced capacities considerably
in the last few years, especially Western
Europe and the U.S. This shift was triggered by a previous excessive increase
of production capacity at a time when
demand for styrene rose at less dynamic
rates or even declined in the aftermath
of the global economic crisis. An effect
of this process was the decline of global capacity utilization to 75 percent in
2009. While production capacities were
relocated, degree of global capacity utilization rose again. This development is
likely to continue; we forecast the highest
relative increase of styrene production
until 2020 to occur in South America
and the Middle East. The production capacity in these countries with extensive
crude oil resources will increase to 4. 8
million tons in 2020. Ceresana expects
output in South America to increase by,
on average, 13. 4 percent p.a. during the
next eight years. CW
