US petrochemicals growth has been lacklustre this year amid high unemployment, high oil prices and the Japanese tsunami, according to BMI's latest US Petrochemicals Report. In the first nine months of 2011 (9M11), sales and captive use of major plastic resins totalled 56.3bn lbs, down .06% y-o-y. Production of major plastic resins over the same year totaled 56.9bn lbs, an increase of just .01% y-o-y, implying net exports of 600mn lbs.

Business Monitor International's United States Petrochemicals Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, petrochemical associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on United States's petrochemicals industry.

The most dynamic segment through the first nine months of the year was PS+, with sales growing by 9.2% to 4.16bn lbs, leading to 8.4% growth in output to 4.19bn lbs. Sales of both Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) were down, with decreases of 0.35% and 0.23% y-o-y to 10.12bn lbs and 5.1bn lbs respectively. Output trends between LLDPE and LDPE, however, diverged, with output growth of 2.5% for LDPE and a decline of 1.3% for LLDPE year-on-year (y-o-y) to 5.17bn lbs and 10.31bn lbs.

The polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has recorded gains over 2010 with 9M11 sales growing 3.8% y-o-y to 10.87bn lbs and output growing 4.5% to nearly 11bn lbs. The high-density polyethylene (HDPE) segment recorded slow growth with sales rising by of 1.2% to 12.8bn lbs, and output, which grew just 0.75% to 12.9bn lbs. This means demand growth largely benefited imports. The worst performing segment was polypropylene (PP), with sales down 6.4% to 12.3bn lbs and production falling 6% to 12.25bn lbs. Polymer resins output growth of about 3.4% in 2010, following significant declines in the previous two years, was below far lower than BMI had expected and continues to lag behind trends in the overall economy.

After a period of stagnation and decline, the improved cost position of US petrochemicals bolstered by shale gas discoveries has prompted a flurry of interest in new cracker capacity. Growth in ethane availability paves the way for a potential cracker in the northeast, where the Marcellus shale reserves could support a world-scale plant, in addition to those recently announced by CP Chem and Dow Chemical.

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