Markets consuming world regions

Figure 9 describes petroleum coke markets in terms of consuming world regions. Western Europe consumes the largest share of United States petroleum coke. The European steel and cement industries are consistent customers. In fact, the European fuel market (cement, ceramics, glass, utilities) can be considered as the market sump. If the price of coke declined to a hypothetical level, the European fuel market alone could probably absorb all of the United States coke production. 

Table 8.2 shows polyamide consumption in the consumer products market by world region for the period 1999-2002. 

Table 8.8 Polycarbonate consumption in i 1999-20C he consumer products market by world region, 12 (000 tonnes) ...

In 2002, total polyamide consumption in consumer product markets amounted to 215,000 tonnes against 201,000 tonnes in 1999. World consumption increased by around 8% in 2000, but then declined in 2001 due to the downturn in world economic activity. In 2002, there was a strong recovery in demand across all major world regions, except Japan. 

The demand for DRI varies depending on local market conditions. In industrialized countries, DRI primarily is used as a supplement to scrap for controlling residual elements in electric arc furnace steelmaking. In regions where scrap is scarce, DRI is used as a replacement in production of all grades of steel. In 1993, Latin America produced 9.4 X 10 t (39.3%) of the world s DRI. Middle East/North Africa produced 6.1 X 10 t (25.6%), Asia/Oceania produced 4.4 X 10 t (18.4%), and CIS/Eastem Europe produced 1.7 x 10 t (7.1%). North America produced 1.2 x 10 t (5.0%) Africa, 0.9 x 10 t (3.8%) and Western Europe, 0.2 x 10 t (0.8%) (1). Nearly 79% of the DRI produced is consumed in steel mills adjacent to the DR plants called captive plants. Plants which are designed to sell and ship DRI on the open market are called merchant plants. 

The consumer markets in North America appear to have contracted somewhat. A decline of cannabis use was also found in the Oceania region, which has the worlds highest levels of prevalence rates for cannabis. But there has been a reported increase of cannabis use in Africa and in most countries of South America. The situation in Europe and Asia is mixed. The number of all countries reporting increases in cannabis use fell from 58 per cent of all countries reporting in 2000 to 45 per cent in 2005, while the number of countries reporting declines increased from 7 per cent in 2000 to 21 per cent in 2005. 

The regulatory position of stevioside varies in different regions of the world. Japan is the main market for stevioside and consumes 90% of the world s supply of stevia leaves (Richard, 2002). Stevioside is used in Japan in a variety of applications, including soft drinks. In other markets, the use of stevioside, if permitted at all, is limited to supplements. In the United States, the FDA issued an import alert in May 1991 blocking the import of and sale of stevia products, following the results of a preliminary mutagenicity study. In 1995, the FDA revised the import alert to allow the sale of stevia and its extracts as a food supplement, but not as a sweetener. It currently does not have GRAS status and is considered to be an unsafe food additive (Richard, 2002). 

Market assessment in the pharmaceutical sphere is not an exact science it has an element of educated guesswork overlaid on hard market statistics. This is partly because of the wide variations between market conditions in different regions of the world and individual countries within those regions. This is also partly due to the many different ways by which pharmaceutical products travel from manufacturer to consumer, so that it is almost impossible to keep close watch over all the channels of distribution. 

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