Indian polymer industry continues to shine with a very spectacular growth exceeding 15% in 2007. Polyolefins have shown a growth of about 20% in 2007. LLDPE and HDPE are going to grow at more than 20%. These are the present indications however actual figures would emerge only after the end of financial year after 31st March 2007. EVA apparently had some rejection problems in footwear industry but will show some growth. LDPE is likely to remain at about 1-2% growth in 2007. Polyolefins consumption in 2007 exceeded 4 million tons and was around 4.1 million tons and thus continues to account for more than 60% of total polymer consumption. The total consumption of polymers for plastics application in India in 2007 financial year is expected to exceed 6.5 million tons and could inch towards 7 million tons. PVC is another polymer consumed in larger amounts at about 1.4 million tons in 2007. PS unfortunately has not grown much in India and was consumed at about 300-320,000 tons in 2007. ETP was consumed at about 225,000 tons in 2007. Thermosets were consumed at about 350,000 tons including about 130-140,000 tons of PU. PET film and container could exceed 300,000 tons and could be closer to 325,000 tons in 2007.

POLYMER CONSUMPTION ESTIMATE IN 2007 – INDIA
Polymer	In KT	In KT
LDPE/EVA	325
LLDPE	750
HDPE	1100
PP	1775
Polyolefins		3950
PVC		1480
PS/EPS		300
ABS/SAN		100
Acrylics		10
PET (Container/film)	325
ETP		250
PU		250
Other thermoset		205
Total		6790

2008 will start with significant expansion as well as setting up of new petrochemical and polymer projects in India. India’s largest petrochemical giant will commission a 30 million ton refinery by the end of 2008 along with 1 million tons of PP capacity, using Dow’s Unipol technology.
GAIL (India) will increase ethylene and Polyethylene capacity. It will embark upon construction of a new cracker as well as 220,000 ton PE and 60,000 ton PP projects in Assam that will commence possibly in 2010-2011. The project in Assam called Brahmputra Gas Cracker, will be a joint venture between Gail holding 70% and 3 other partners each holding 10% each (OIL, Numaligarah Refinery and Assam Government). GAIL (India) has achieved mechanical completion of its new 1,00,000 tpa HDPE (high density polyethylene) plant at the petrochemical complex at Pata, based on technology from Mitsui, Japan. With the completion of the new HDPE plant, the polymer capacity of the Pata Petrochemical plant has increased to 4,10,000 tpa.
Haldia Petrochem will significantly expand cracker capacity along with PE and PP plant expansion. In a move to finance its ongoing expansion plans, Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) plans to raise US$50 mln through the external commercial borrowing (ECB) route. The expansion project has been dubbed as Project Supermax, and will result in a capacity increase of 30% plant from 520,000 tons to 670,000 tons by October 2008.
Supreme Petrochem, after acquiring EPS plant of Shinwa in India is now building up a 60,000 ton EPS project at Nagothane, Maharashtra.

Germany's Lanxess ABS, manufacturer of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) in India, plans to invest Rs 800 crore to set up a greenfield chemical facility in the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) estate.
Japan Polychem Corp., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Corp., plans to invest a total of 1.6 billion yen, in a polypropylene-based resin plant, to be located in the state of Rajasthan. The plant will come on stream in April 2009 and will have an annual production capacity of 15,000 tons.
Mitsui Prime Advanced Composites India, a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational Japanese company Mitsui Chemicals Inc., has announced a new manufacturing facility for polypropylene compounded resins, with support from Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO). The unit will have an initial capacity of 15,000 tpa and will be operational from Q1-09. Output from the plant will find application in manufacturing bumpers, panels and pillars, for four and two wheelers. The presence of automobile majors like Ashok Leyland, Eicher and Honda Siel Cars among others in the region has facilitated the growth of the manufacturing sector in Rajasthan in a major way.
DSM Engineering Plastics will triple its high-performance thermoplastics manufacturing capacity in India from 7,000 to 20,000 tpa. The expansion, planned at an investment outlay of US$20 mln, is scheduled for completion by mid-2008. DSM is targetting the infrastructure (construction and power) and automotive segments in India. The use of low voltage switch gears as electrical safety equipment becomes mandatory and has resulted in increased demand for the company's material.
DuPont has announced plans to invest more than US$22.5 million to construct The DuPont Knowledge Center - its first research and development (R&D) center in India. The Center will be located in Hyderabad and will focus on discovery research as well as applications development in a variety of areas, and is expected to be fully operational in early 2008.

The downstream projects also will increase in capacities. India's Supreme Petrochem (SPL) has plans on the cards to invest an approximate of Rs 100 crore to set up four plants to manufacture extruded polystyrene (XPS- known as Styrofoam) insulation board to cater to the growing demand for eco-friendly material for construction, as it aids in reducing energy consumption in commercial and residential buildings. The first plant would be set up at Amdoshi near Nagothane with a capacity of about 5,000 tpa and is expected to be commissioned by June 2008. Upon commissioning of the first plant, SPL plans other projects near Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai.
Jindal Poly Film is expanding its capacity by adding 90000 metric tpa by another two 8.7 mtrs lines from Dornier. The project will commence by the end of 2008, and will boost capacity to 180,000 tons. Current metallizing capacity is 26000 tpa. Orders for two new metallizers of combined capacity of 20,000 tpa are already placed and expected to be commissioned by Jan and March 2008. The width of these metalizer would be 2850 mm, biggest in India.
PVC pipe capacity is also increasing significantly with expansions by all the three major Indian players - Finolex, Jain Group and Supreme Industries.
Another large sector of raffia/tape/ woven fabric will continue to augment capacity to match growing requirements of end user industries, particularly cement, fertilizer and sugar. Packaging, automobile and consumer sectors are growing well due to increasing spending capacity of the burgeoning middle class in India. Automotive sector is consistently growing at more than 10%. The growth in retail market has provided the required growth impetus to both consumer and packaging sectors. The Rs 25,000 crore consumer durables sector has registered a double digit growth (12%) in 2007, despite an inverted customs duty structure and high excise duty on white goods. If the central government is receptive in eradicating certain anomalies, the sector is estimated to grow at the rate of 20% in 2008-09.
The Indian plastic processors are in the process of developing newer export territories. This is quite apparent with the participation of 90 companies as exhibitors at the recently concluded K 2007. India therefore is expected to show at least 10% growth of polymer consumption in 2008. Higher growth of GDP could boost the growth of polymer by another 1%. A general overview of the global polymer industry for 2008 looks certainly rosy and stimulating. Asia is certainly going to play a major role and will drive the global growth of petrochemicals including polymers.

At present, the Indian economy is more domestic consumption driven unlike other economies like China which are export dependent. Hence, the growth in India is driven intrinsically by the government spending on infrastructure and domestic consumption. In 2008, the gradual shift of investment emphasis away from developed markets and into emerging markets will get defined for the next 25 years. Emerging markets have now started contributing to more than half of the growth of global GDP. Also, the risk quotient associated with these economies has decreased and is being re-rated. As the contribution of emerging markets to the growth of global GDP increases, proportionately their weightage in the investment universe of investors will also go up. The year 2008, will bring into focus forthcoming elections in two of the largest democracies in the world- USA and India. The stock markets in these countries will anticipate elections and prepare for their impact, possibly leading to uncertainty and volatility in the markets.

Finally before we close for 2007, we from www.plastemart.com would like to wish all our patrons, clients and more importantly all our readers who keenly read our new letters and also this New Year message a very happy 2008 and best wishes for their prosperity.