Chinese Plastics Supply and Demand

China s demand for plastics has been increasing by 10.8% annually to 

9 million tonnes by 2003, growing at 11.3% per annum. China will remain a large importer of plastics to meet its growing domestic demand. In 2003, China imported 16.5 million tonnes of plastics. It is forecast that China s plastic imports will increase to 25.3 million tonnes by 2008. 

Polyvinyl chloride production increased to 2.3 million tonnes in 1998 and rose to about 3.6 million tonnes by 2003, with an annual growth of 9.2%. PVC demand will continue to be driven by the growing consumer market needs for plastic windows and doors and other applications in the construction market. The production of polyethylene reached 2.7 million tonnes in 1998 and increased to nearly 4.8 million tonnes in 2003. 

22 Plastics China Technologies, Markets and Growth Strategies to 2008 

Polyethylene production is dominated by a few large petrochemical corporations in China. The largest polyethylene producers include Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical, Shanghai Petrochemical, Qilu Petrochemical Corp and Daqing Petrochemical Corp. Polyethylene is 

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