China's plastic packaging market will grow at an annual rate of 5%

According to a prediction by BASF, the global plastics market will continue to grow at an average annual rate of 5% before 2015, as urbanization and globalization have become the trend of the times, and the demand for energy and climate protection measures are increasing. Therefore, the company is planning to further expand investment in the plastics industry.

BASF said that this trend is closely related to the development of the energy industry, construction and real estate industries, in which plastics are playing an increasingly important role. Asia will become the fastest growing demand for plastics in the world. Therefore, in the coming decades, BASF will focus on investing in new plants and R&D facilities in Asia.

Plastics can be used not only for building insulation but also for manufacturing because it is more energy efficient than other materials. For example, the use of plastic substitute steel in the manufacture of automotive parts can reduce the weight of the car and help reduce fossil fuel consumption. In Western Europe, the proportion of plastics in automobile manufacturing has grown from 6% in 1970 to about 15% now, and it is expected that this proportion will rise to more than 25% by 2020. Currently in China, the amount of plastic used in the automotive industry is only about half that of Europe, and the use of high-grade engineering plastics is even lower.