The Wire show organized at Dusseldorf, Germany in April 2004 illustrated that the wire and cable industry is not yet dead but has good growth potential. This growth can mainly be attributed to the increasing demands of infrastructure development in East European and the old Russian countries. Asia also has good growth potential due to the similar reasons. The markets in West Europe and North America have become quite matured and are also under tremendous pressures of higher fixed cost. These costs have made it necessary for North American suppliers to move manufacturing base to Mexico and Central America, while the West European suppliers are shifting to the Eastern European countries. PVC still continues to be the major material, but Polyolefins are gradually snatching the market share from PVC. Fire hazards and other environmental issues are the two major driving forces of the shift from PVC to Polyolefins.

World demand indicates 2/3rd share in wire and cable industry for PVC, expected to grow only at a modest rate of 1%. PP is expected to grow at 5% and the Polyethylenes at about 4 %. The shift from PVC to Polyolefins is more prevalent in North America and Western Europe, taking the share of polyethylenes to almost 75% of PVC. The overall demand for wire and cables would grow at about 2%, compared to the overall growth of GDP at 3-3.5%. Power sector will continue to consume major volumes. Telecom and IT have become commodity items. Some of the newer developments still continue to be in the areas of faster extrusion speeds (as high as 2500meters/minute) for telecom cables, PE low-tension cables with fire resistant characteristics.