Styrenic polymers have been growing at a lower pace compared to the other commodity polymers like Polyolefins and PVC and have been replaced by PP in many applications. This could possibly be because of comparatively higher price due to higher costs of basic feedstocks like Benzene, Butadiene and Acrylonitrile. In fact, the total consumption of Styrenic polymers scales to just about 17 million tonnes in 2001, compared to 85 million tonnes of Polyolefins and about 25 million tonnes of PVC. Styrenics have overall been found to grow at about 3-4%, compared to about 5% of Polyolefins. PVC, despite the increasing pressures from the green lobby, has been able to grow at slightly higher rate compared to Styrenics.

The total consumption of Styrenic Polymer in 2001 compared to 1999 is lower mainly due to weaker demand. While the figure of actual consumption in 2001 varies according to the research studies, the average consumption is about 16.5-17 million tonnes. The consumption can be divided as:

Phillip Townsend Associates, a well-known US consulting organization, has recently carried out a very interesting study on the speciality Styrenic products. The study focuses on 7 types of copolymers/terpolymers and 4 types of modified products. In total these 11 products account for about 1.4 million tonnes and constitute about 8-8.5% of the total Styrenic business in volumes.

According to the Townsend report, 7 specialty copolymers/terpolymers account for 950 KT, while 4 modified products constitute about 450 KT.

K-resins type high styrene-butadiene copolymers with toughness and clarity have a consumption of 225 KT in 2001. They are also expected to grow at 7% in the next 5 years. In fact, there have been quite some investments in the building up of additional capacity of these types of Styrene-Butadiene copolymers in the last few years. Some other copolymers like MBS and transparent ABS, used to impart impact modification, have been growing quite well despite supply from very few manufacturers globally.

Syndiotactic Polystyene manufactured with single site catalyst system by Dow at their 35 KT initial capacity BSL plant in Germany shows a bright growth potential. This could mainly be due to the fact that it can replace some of the conventional ETP and provide an advantage of avoiding preheating that is essential in processing of ETP. The lower specific gravity also offers cost benefit. Phillip Townsend estimates a 12% growth for this type of modified Styrenic product. Dow, the supplier of 'Questra' - the syndiotechtic PS is confident to double the 35KT capacity very soon.

Flame retardant or ignition resistant HIPS formulated product have found an increasing usage in several consumer electronics such as TV cabinets and many other electronic devices. Many Polystyrene producers have started compounding activities for such modified products to achieve better value addition. There are, of course, many independent merchant compounders who also participate in the business of formulated modified Polystyrene products.