Diminishing Demand of Polypropylene in South Asian Market

In the South Asian market, the price trend of Polypropylene is seen declining in May. The numbers decreased by almost 1% from last month’s values in South Korea, Singapore, and the Japanese market, as per the Chemanalyst data. Increased prices of the feed Propylene materials along with high upstream values of natural gas boosted the production cost of Polypropylene in the manufacturing units. Inflationary pressure on Crude oil escalated the fuel prices in the Asian region, which increased the freight cost of the materials.

However, the most consequential reason for this fall is the decreasing demand for single-use PP materials in the downstream packaging and textile industries. Industries in South Asia are shifting their interest toward recycled plastics and manufacturing goods made from recycled plastic materials for a circular economy. The meaning of circular economy is the constant flow of non-degradable materials like plastics around a “Closed-loop” system and keeping their value in the economy, rather than their one time use to discard them later in the environment.

Recently Lotte chemical in Busan, South Korea, provided uniforms made from the fibre of recycled waste of PET bottles collected from the Busan area, Under the Lotte Chemical project name “LOOP”. Last March, Lotte Chemicals collected around 10 tons of wasted PET bottles. They collaborated with SMEs to manufacture eco-friendly products to raise awareness of the vital cycle of plastic resources and laid the foundation to establish the regenerated plastic circular economy system in Busan, South Korea.

As per Chemanalyst, “The demand for Polypropylene materials is anticipated to remain firm in the downstream packaging and fibre industries, and the Polypropylene prices are likely to increase in the upcoming months due to rising production cost of materials caused by the rising upstream natural gas values and feed Propylene prices in the South Asian market.”