Ceresana expects plastics demand in construction industry to reach 73 million tons by 2023
Plastics replace wood or metal at construction sites more and more often. The market research company Ceresana expects demand of the construction industry for plastics to increase worldwide to a volume of about 73 million tons by 2023.
In the developed industrial nations, mainly existing buildings are renovated. On the other hand, activities in new construction are much more important in the emerging countries. A growing population in combination with a progressive urbanization leads to further increases in demand for new apartments.
Besides Asia and the Middle East, Africa will also be a hot spot for urbanization in the near future, according to the report. Creating affordable living space in the cities is one of the most urgent aspects of many national development plans.
Additionally, the average size of households is decreasing worldwide which causes an increase in per capita living space. In some emerging markets, such as Brazil or India, the construction industry is currently affected by corruption scandals, lack of regulations, and a general insecurity of investment conditions.
However, even in these countries, prospects are good, for example for manufacturers of plastic windows, said Ceresana. Their market share has been rather small so far, yet, the advantages are more and more prevailing.
Plastics are increasingly the first choice regarding the thermal insulation of buildings. Not only industrial countries but also more and more emerging markets declared the reduction of greenhouse gas as political aim. A main starting point thereby is energy saving – a majority of total energy consumption is accounted for by heating or cooling of apartments or commercial buildings.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) assumes that to fulfill all aims of the climate conference of Paris (December 2015) until 2030, investments in the segments energy efficiency and climate-friendly technologies amounting to US$13.5 trillion have to be made.
Worldwide, more and more support programs and regulations are implemented that aim for an increase in energy efficiency of buildings and that have a large impact on the respective insulation material markets. Extent and consistency, however, are different from country to country.
Around the world, especially the insulation and foam materials polyurethane (PU) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) as well as the engineering plastic polycarbonate (PC) account for high growth rates, the report noted.
Polycarbonate is mainly used for transparent sheets in the construction industry which become more and more popular for designs with a high light incidence. The construction industry increasingly replaces traditional materials with other plastics, such as polypropylene (PP) and the robust high density polyethylene (HDPE).
