Oct 12 2009
At present, the Global Butadiene Market is changing its shape and will be driven not only by demand for rubber but also for high impact polystyrene (HIPS).
Markets in developed regions are mature, however, the fact is outweighed by the emergence of major automotive production in developing economies.
Butadiene production facilities are shifting to Asia and regions like central Europe, thus, away from the US, western Europe and Japan. The North American market has weakened since the downstream demand in the auto, tyre replacement and electronics industries has moved to Asia.
Most butadiene goes into SBR and butadiene rubber (BR), but the situation is worsen by the lack of demand from the auto makers and weakened demand for replacement tyres from vehicle owners.
Butadiene is also used to make the engineering plastic ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), yet ABS market has been influenced globally by weakened automobile demand and lower demand from the electronics industries.
Butadiene supply globally was extremely tight in the first three quarters of 2008, as higher naphtha costs drove ethylene makers to switch to cracking gas feedstocks and limiting supply. The market tightness, however, disappeared as demand collapsed in the 4Q.
Butadiene future looks perspective with major growth concentrated in Asia where demand will grow to 53% of the global total in 2015 from 45% in 2008. Rapid growth is forecast for the Middle East as new butadiene derivatives production capacities are added.
Source: https://mcgroup.co.uk/