Robust Growth in the Asian Construction Sector to Stimulate the PVC Market

IndexBox has just published a new report: 'World - Polyvinyl Chloride (In Primary Forms) - Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends, and Insights.' Here is a summary of the report's key findings.

The negative impact of the COVID crisis on the PVC market is offset by growing demand in the Asian construction industry and the global packaging market.

Key Trends and Insights

The main factor behind the PVC market growth is the high demand from the automotive and construction industries. Both were stagnating during the lockdown. However, according to Eurostat and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the construction sector began to recover since the second half of 2020.

Concerning environmental trends, PVC is an attractive promising material. The use of PVC in the automotive industry reduces vehicle weight, thereby improving fuel economy and minimizing carbon dioxide emissions.

The rapidly expanding construction industries in China and India to become the main drivers of PVC consumption growth over the medium term. in India, construction growth has been accelerated significantly due to the government's "Housing for All" program. Domestic PVC production cannot fully meet the high demand in India, so more than half of the consumed PVC is imported. (IndexBox estimates)

Despite falls in the per capita income in many countries and the likelihood of the next COVID wave lockdown, the demand for flexible PVC packaging is steadily increasing since e-commerce develops rapidly.

Market performance is forecast to decelerate, expanding with an anticipated CAGR of +1.7% for the period from 2019 to 2030, projected to bring the market volume to 47M tonnes by the end of 2030.

Consumption by Country

The countries with the highest volumes of polyvinyl chloride consumption in 2019 were China (8.9M tonnes), India (6.4M tonnes), and the U.S. (4.3M tonnes), with a combined 50% share of global consumption.

From 2012 to 2019, the most notable rate of growth in terms of polyvinyl chloride consumption amongst the leading consuming countries was attained by India, while polyvinyl chloride consumption for the other global leaders experienced more modest paces of growth.

In value terms, the largest polyvinyl chloride markets worldwide were China ($8B), India ($6B), and the U.S. ($4.4B), together comprising 49% of the global market.

Global Production

In 2019, the amount of polyvinyl chloride (in primary forms) produced worldwide was estimated at 37M tonnes, remaining constant against the previous year's figure. In value terms, polyvinyl chloride production fell modestly to $35.2B in 2019, estimated at export prices. 

The countries with the highest volumes of polyvinyl chloride production in 2019 were China (9M tonnes), the U.S. (6.8M tonnes), and India (2.3M tonnes), together accounting for 49% of global production.

Global Imports

In 2019, the amount of polyvinyl chloride imported worldwide rose slightly to 16M tonnes, surging by 1.6% compared with the year before. The total import volume increased at an average annual rate of +3.6% from 2012 to 2019.

In value terms, polyvinyl chloride imports declined modestly to $16.1B (IndexBox estimates) in 2019. 

India was the key importing country with an import of around 4.1M tonnes, which accounted for 25% of total imports. It was distantly followed by China (934K tonnes), constituting a 5.8% share of total imports. Italy (670K tonnes), Germany (646K tonnes), Turkey (628K tonnes), Belgium (517K tonnes), Canada (501K tonnes), Viet Nam (406K tonnes), Brazil (392K tonnes), Poland (388K tonnes), Mexico (349K tonnes), Bangladesh (319K tonnes) and the U.S. (310K tonnes) held a little share of total imports.

India was also the fastest-growing in polyvinyl chloride imports, with a CAGR of +20.2% from 2012 to 2019. 

In value terms, India ($3.8B) constitutes the largest market for imported polyvinyl chloride (in primary forms) worldwide, comprising 24% of global imports. The second position in the ranking was occupied by China ($991M), with a 6.1% share of global imports. It was followed by Germany, with a 4.1% share.

In India, polyvinyl chloride imports expanded at an average annual rate of +18.0% over the period from 2012-2019. In the other countries, the average annual rates were as follows: China (-5.5% per year) and Germany (-2.2% per year).

The average polyvinyl chloride import price stood at $995 per tonne in 2019.

Source: IndexBox Platform