Petrochemical Market

The global petrochemical market was estimated to be US$ 585.8 Billion in 2022 and is expected to reach US$ 1,130.91 Billion by 2032 at a CAGR of 6.8%.

Petrochemical industry deals with the production and trade of petroleum chemicals worldwide. Petrochemicals are compounds that are obtained primarily from petroleum or other hydrocarbons, which are produced from natural gas and crude oil. These compounds are used as building blocks for a range of applications and materials. The petrochemical industry sources raw materials from the petroleum industry to manufacture products such as synthetic fibers, plastic resins, surface coating materials, synthetic rubbers, and various types of adhesives.

The petrochemical industry can be further classified based on upstream, intermediate, and downstream operations. The two major feedstocks for the petroleum industry include natural gas, and naphtha. The type of feedstock also determines the manufacturing process used by manufacturing plants. The global petrochemicals market is driven by high growth in key end-use industries including automobile, packaging, and construction. Moreover, raw material availability in the Middle East is high as it is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of crude oil and natural gas. This is also driving the global petrochemical industry as high demand is met by equal supply capability. Furthermore, emerging economies such as India and China are witnessing high demand for petrochemicals from various end-user industries and government initiatives to promote local manufacturing in India is also driving the demand for petrochemicals in the Asia Pacific region. On the contrary, environmental concerns related to the use of petrochemicals has prompted high investments in bio-based chemicals by the public and commercial sector. This trend is expected to continue over the forecast period and hamper the global petrochemicals market growth. In 2017, among different types of petrochemical products, Ethylene held the largest market share of over 25% of the global petrochemicals market in 2017.

Propylene followed Ethylene in terms of market share wherein Propylene is utilized in the production of propylene oxide and polypropylene. Whereas, Methanol product is expected to be the fastest growing segment from 2023 to 2032. The high growth of methanol is linked to its rising usage in methanol to olefins (MTO) and gasoline blending. Other products such as benzene, butadiene, xylene, vinyls, toluene, and styrene also accounted for a significant share in the global petrochemicals market share in 2017. Among the geographies, Asia Pacific held the largest market share occupying more than 40% of the global petrochemical market in 2017.

The global petrochemical market has been witnessing high demand from China and growth in construction and automotive sector in regions such as India and Southeast Asia are also driving the petrochemicals industry in Asia Pacific. Furthermore, North America is expected to grow at a CAGR of about 7.7% whereas the market in Europe is expected to witness further gains expanding at a CAGR of 7.9% from 2018 to 2024. Besides, in Latin America, the growth in automotive industry coupled with demand for petrochemicals from end-use industries is expected to play significant role. South America is anticipated to hold nearly 12.8% of the market share in 2017.

Some of the active and key players in the global petrochemical market include BASF SE, ExxonMobil, The Dow Chemical Company, Shell Chemical Company, SABIC, Sinopec Limited, LyondellBasell Industries, Total S.A., Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd., E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC.

Market Segmentation:

By End-Use Industry

• Including Automobile
• Packaging
• Construction

By Geography

• North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Middle East & Africa
• South America