Recently released consumption figure of plastics raw material for 2003 in North America indicate flat plastics growth. The total production and sales of all resins remained static at 48.5 million tons, reflecting zero growth of plastics consumption as well as exports in North America. The U.S. economy got off to a slow and shaky start in 2003 amidst high oil and natural gas prices, uncertainty concerning the Iraq war and continued loss of jobs. Economic growth was dampened in the first half of the year. However, a rebound of capital spending resulted in recovery in the summer and accelerated growth in the second half of 2003. Aided by massive fiscal and monetary stimuli, economic growth was 3.1% for 2003 as a whole, accelerating from the 2.2% in 2002 and the 0.5% growth experienced in 2001.

A recovering economy provided opportunities for renewed growth in the U.S. plastics market in the later half of 2003 but still could not wipe out the loss of the first half completely. Only PP managed to show some modest growth. PE sales were down despite economic recovery in the later half of 2003.
American Plastic Council (APC) estimates that PE consumption in North America was down by 1 % against 2002. The export of PE was significantly down by about 11% due to high prices triggered by rising feedstock prices. Among the polyethylenes, LDPE suffered the most, recording a negative growth of 2.5 %. LDPE lost significantly in the film sector. LLDPE also lost by 1.7 % in domestic consumption. The film market that consumes more than 65% of LLDPE was completely flat. HDPE, thanks to growth of blow moulding sector, showed a modest 0.6% positive growth over 2002 consumption.
Polypropylene consumption grew by 1.6% over 2002. PP is the only commodity plastics that had a positive growth. The injection moulding sector showed about 2 % growth but other sectors could not sustain the growth.
Polystyrene, after resounding recovery in 2002, went down again. Crystal PS sales declined 2.1%, High Impact PS sales were down 5.1% and Expandable PS sales fell 4.9% from the previous year. In terms of market segment growth, bright spots for PS resin were few and far between (e.g., food service up 2.1 % and major appliances up 0.5 %). All other markets saw declines with media enclosures taking the highest fall (down 14.8%).
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) consumption also showed a decline of 2.1% over 2002. PVC pipe, one of the largest markets, remained flat with marginal improvement over last year. Some of the other core markets such as PVC siding, flooring, paste processes, films and sheets, coatings and molding applications had lackluster growth that brought total demand down in 2003.

The economy experienced a period of high growth in the second half of 2003, when economic growth averaged over 6%. The recovery in the world economy in general and the industry in particular, has taken hold and accelerated. Globally, USA will be the locomotive of economic growth, followed by Asia. West Europe will lag. But in general, the strengthening economy could promise a the year 2004 with bright prospects for plastics.