PVC or Poly Vinyl Chloride is traditionally employed in construction activities and is expected to remain a dominant raw material in the construction industry. PVC is majorly preferred as it is cost-effective, resistant to chemical and environmental corrosion and has high durability. Due to an increase in the use of PVC which is unplasticized, it is used as a substitute for painting wood and sills. This is expected to further boost the demand and supply of PVC in the construction industry.
Applications And Demand For PVC
PVC is extensively used in end-user industries such as clothing, footwear, furniture, and sportswear. As it is inexpensive and has a high shelf-life, the PVC market is expanding and finding applications in leather as well as the rubber industry that produce goods such as bags, high-intensity shoes, and home appliances. Additionally, an increase in the global disposable income in developing economies such as China, Brazil, and India has been a driving factor for the regional heightened consumer demand in the electrical & electronics industry. The PVC market also caters to supplying the raw material in domains such as in landfill liners, constriction of storage spaces, pipes, electrical wires, and cables. Product cycles of ceiling tiles, toys, and false interior walls also use Poly Vinyl Chloride as a principal raw material.
According to experts, growth in the demand for electrical and electronic applications is expected to drive the PVC market growth in the coming decade. Developing countries such as China and India are expected to boost the demand for PVC alongside a boost in their extensive urbanization and developmental projects. Both these countries are observing industrial and construction growth rate which are in double-digits which is essentially paving the way for the domestic PVC industries. Poly Vinyl Chloride finds direct usage in cables, doors, pipes, films, windows, sheets, tanks, etc. India is foreseeing significant developments in road projects, buildings and other developmental projects such as the construction of dams, bridges, metro trains and electricity cables for deeper electrical penetration. All these operations directly employ PVC with is procured either through domestic chemical industries or through neighboring nations at lower costs.
Global Market Scenario In The PVC Market
Stringent and carefully checked the global regulatory scenario of the PVC industry is hindering its free trade and manufacturing. For instance, Britain’s Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) obeys a regulatory policy which discourages finding DEHP phthalates in PVC compounds. The active employment of polyethylene and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) in the hospital industry is slowly resulting in diminishing the market for PVC in developed countries.
Companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, Saudi Polymers Co, and Qatar Petroleum are significant players in the Poly Vinyl Industry and are aggressively increasing their production of ethylene which has a direct role in the chemical production of PVC. Global urbanization and development in the end-user market are fostering the demand-supply curve of PVC which is further affected by the price fluctuations in labor, feedstock chemicals, and the government regulations.