TABLE OF CONTENTS Demand for additives is obviously strongly dependent on demand for plastics, but there are other factors too. The amount of additives sold per tonne of plastic product today is much higher than it was in the early days of the plastics industry. This is partly because of more widespread appreciation of the benefits of additives and also because of regulation, the need to improve process efficiency etc.
Demand for plastics is nevertheless the chief determinant of additives sales. It has traditionally been driven by the economic benefits obtained by replacing metals, glass, concrete, ceramics, paper, cardboard, linoleum and wood, which in turn reflects the easy processing of plastics by efficient mass production techniques. The developing countries are still at an early stage in this replacement process, but in the advanced countries replacement has slowed considerably.
North America, Western Europe and Japan will see less new substitution in the future. Examples of the further displacement of traditional materials by plastics in those regions include the following:
plastics glazing in cars will begin to replace glass by 2006
fibre reinforced plastics can partly replace concrete in civil engineering for bridge decks and the repair of certain concrete structures; this began more than five years ago
wood filled polymers will replace timber, aluminium, MDF and concrete in construction products (it will also replace PVC in a few applications)
reinforced plastics and polyurethanes will replace wood in some utility and telegraph...
