Dr. Surinder Bahl, project manager of PTAI's Polyethylene Annual Reort, tells us "Ever since the Asian economic crisis of 1998, polythylene consumption in the Asia/Pacific region (excluding Japan) has grown at double-digit rates, most recently at over 12% in 2001." Given a relatively bullish forecast for GDP growth in that region over the next several years, coupoled with an increasing amount of polyethylene semi-finished and finished goods being exported to other regions, PTAI is forecasting an average annual growth of 7.4% per year for the region over the next five years. According to Bahl, "This represents an projected consumption growth of more than 6 million tonnes, or 36% of total worldwide growth over the period, which should be more than sufficient to propel Asia/Pacific to the top spot among polyethylene consumers."
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