Injection moulded plastics set for steady growth in US

2 November 2006 – Demand for injection moulded plastics in the US is forecast to grow by 2.8% per year to reach 16 billion pounds in 2010, valued at $14.7bn.

A report by Freedonia Group in the US says that the commodity plastics polypropylene, high density polyethylene and polystyrene accounted for 63% of plastics demand in injection moulding in 2005.

PP demand is forecast to increase by 3.6% annually due to the material’s low cost and good performance. The polymer’s best opportunities are expected to be in injection packaging uses, such as caps and closures, housewares and personal care products.

Injection moulded PS demand is expected to increase slowly due to competition from low cost resins like PP and HDPE. The latter will see good demand in industrial packaging applications.

Packaging and consumer markets accounted for 64% of injection moulded plastics demand in the US last year. Freedonia said threats to further growth include saturation in areas such as appliances and toys.

How the plastics industry responds to changing global markets will be explored at EPN’s Global Plastics Strategies conference, 14-15 November 2006, Brussels, Belgium www.plasticstrategies.com