JEDDAH: The Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC), annual plastics consumption will grow 22 percent to 5.5 million metric tons in 2015 from the current 3.3 million metric tons, the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) said. The rise in consumption comes amid rising production of plastics polymers in the region, the GPCA secretary general Abdulwahab Al Sadoun said Friday. While abundant hydrocarbon resources in the region – oil, gas and gas liquids, or NGLs – have propelled the region to become a plastics production powerhouse, a high per-capita income in the region and a population growth of near 2.5 percent a year have ensured a high per-capita consumption of plastic in the region. Even though just 20 percent of the GCC petrochemical products are plastics, they account for 70 percent in terms of value. According to the latest reports, the polyethylene production capacities in the Gulf will more than double to 21.5 million mt by 2015 from 10.7 million mt in 2009. Likewise, production capacities for polypropylene will increase to 9.5 million mt in 2015 to 4.8 million mt in 2009, an increase of 98 percent. This will bring the combined production capacities of the two major polyolefin resins to over 31 million mt by 2015. Khaled Al Mana, executive vice president - Polymers SBU at SABIC earlier said that the region will emerge to be the second-highest per-capita consumer of plastics in the world by 2020. A polymers park being constructed in Abu Dhabi and a plastics park being built in Jubail are attempts by the region's governments to promote plastics, Al Sadoun said. The two parks when built will house plastics and downstream products manufacturing plants.
