Materials News

China leads in PET resin supply

The annual global study covers historical trends and future projections for supply, demand, production, capacity, trade, pricing and profitability of the global PTA, DMT, polyester polycondensation melt, PET packaging resin, polyester industrial filament, polyester textile filament, polyester bulk continuous filament and polyester staple fibre for the period 2005 to 2015.

Included with each analysis is 12 months access to CMAI's online capacity and supply/demand databases with a mid-term supply/demand update, incorporating CMAI's latest market outlook.

Despite global PTA capacity continuing to expand in 2009-2010, global demand was able to keep pace with expansions and operating rates recovered from the low levels seen in 2008. Following the trend of recent years, worldwide capacity and demand for dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) continues to decline as it is increasingly displaced by PTA. Global PET bottle resin capacity expanded once again in 2010, with China accounting for slightly more than half of the new capacity added.

Among fibres, polyester filament continued to exhibit the fastest capacity growth in 2010, especially in its largest segment, textile filament. China continues to add significant new industrial filament capacity. Polyester bulked continuous filament capacity is growing rapidly in the US, replacing higher cost fibres in carpet applications. After excessive overbuilding in the middle of the decade, global polyester staple capacity remained essentially flat from 2009 to 2010.

Following a strong increase in 2007, global polyester demand experienced its first ever decline in 2008. Global fibre demand recovered in 2009, led primarily by robust growth in China, which continued to support strong polyester fibre demand growth in 2010. Global PET packaging resin demand returned to growth in 2009, although the growth was anemic.

PET packaging resin demand growth in 2010 returned to a more normal level. With increasing interest in sustainability, there has been growth in demand for recycled PET (RPET). RPET, consumed primarily in polyester fibre applications, is seeing increasing demand in food and beverage packaging in the West, despite the more stringent quality requirements in these applications.

Net PTA trade volumes between regions rose marginally in 2010, as Northeast Asia is moving toward a balanced PTA trade position and Europe's net imports increased. The largest change in net PET trade was the transition of North America from a net importer in 2009 to a slight net exporter in 2010. The largest net exporter of polyester fibre continued to be Northeast Asia in 2010.