Egypt celebrated its first anniversary of the Revolution on January 25th, as per ChemOrbis. Prior to that date players had been nervous about potential problems arising from the celebrations and polymer demand was affected while players waited and watched. Last week passed relatively peacefully, bringing a sigh of relief to nervous market watchers and relieving some of the pressure on the demand side

The global demand for thermoplastics is expected to grow by around 100,000 tons by 2015, driven by the developing economies. Polyethylene comprises 35% of this market and polypropylene is 24%, according to leading market consultant Noru Tsalic of Applied Market Information (AMI). This is an annual increase of 5.6%.

Polyolefins represent almost two-thirds of the major commodity thermoplastics used worldwide, and have numerous applications ranging from automotive parts to carpet fibers, household and food containers, toys, stretch film/shrink film, diapers and trash bags. The global polyolefin market is changing dramatically in response to the quickly advancing industrialization process in emerging markets, as well as improvements in global communications and trade liberalization. According to the CMAI analysis, increases in consumption will continue to be driven by novel applications where plastics can deliver cost advantages, performance enhancements, or both.

Lower polyethylene production in Asia has failed to support the market, as per Platts. This is because of weak demand due to uncertainty surrounding the eurozone sovereign debt issue and the global economy