According to a market research report titled ‘Qatar Petrochemicals Report Q3 2011’ from Research and Markets, the annual polyethylene demand of China is estimated to reach 8% to 9% in fiscal 2011, a decrease from 19% in fiscal 2010.
However, new capacity will decrease China’s imports by nearly 14% from the 2009 value of 7.4 million tons. BMI expects that this will affect adjoining Asian countries more than Qatar, which could benefit from low cost of domestic ethane feedstock.
The report predicts that the self-sufficiency of the Chinese polymer market should surpass 100% polypropylene and 75% polyethylene in 2011. Since, polymer production in Qatar is mainly polyethylene with no production of polypropylene, it will not be affected by polypropylene surplus in China.
Owner of QAFCO and QAPCO, Industries Qatar achieved strong sales of QAR4 billion and net profit of QAR2.09 billion in the first quarter of 2011. The launch of the QAFCO-5 project will increase urea capacity by one-fourth, thus increasing urea prices. Qatar’s petrochemical capacity expansion could be affected by increasing construction expenditures and limited lending scenario. The country’s cracker capacity will rise considerably in the coming five years and its polyolefins manufacturing capacity is the second largest in the GCC after Saudi Arabia.
Source: http://www.researchandmarkets.com