CEH Report

Table of Contents

Abstract

Plant expansions in Asia and the Middle East and softening demand in developed regions have led to styrene oversupply in the United States, Western Europe and Japan. These changes have resulted in industry rationalization in styrene monomer and derivative capacity. During the next five years, major capacity additions for styrene will occur, mostly in China, the Middle East, and Central and South America.

The major markets for styrene are polystyrene, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS)/styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) resins, styrene-butadiene (S/B) copolymer latexes, unsaturated polyester resins and SBR elastomers and latexes. Styrene demand remains dominated by its main derivative, polystyrene (59%), which has reached maturity in most developed countries. Other styrene consumption was for the production of ABS/SAN (16%), S/B copolymer latexes (6%) and unsaturated polyester, accounting for an additional 6% of world styrene demand, while SBR and SBR latexes production accounted for 4% of world demand.

The following pie chart shows world consumption of styrene:

World styrene demand grew at an average annual rate of only 0.4% during 2003–2008. Rising raw material prices and weakened demand for polystyrene in the United States, Western Europe and Japan slowed overall styrene demand growth. Growth in these three regions will be flat to declining over the forecast period.

The fastest styrene demand growth will be in China, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, and Central and South America. Based on current capacity expansion announcements, the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, and the Middle East will remain net exporters while Mexico, India, Thailand and other Asian countries will continue to be net importers to 2013. Capacity closures in the United States and Western Europe in 2009, and potentially into 2010, and continued capacity growth in China will gradually shift global supply closer to demand in Asia.