MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's consumption of polystyrene (PS) in foaming technology increased by 1.3% in 2015. Demand for PS in this segment was 325,600 tonnes a year earlier. In 2015, the market capacity reached 329,700 tonnes, according to MRC's Annual report.
This market segment grew last year because of the increased consumption of XPS-plates. In 2015, the XPS-plates market for the first time exceeded consumption of the EPS-plates market, totalling 196,000 tonnes, up by 26% year on year.
At the same time, Russia's consumption of expandable polystyrene (EPS) decreased by 21%. Demand for EPS fell from 168,600 tonnes to 133,500 tonnes.
The head of SIBUR's directorate of plastics and organic synthesis Paul Lyakhovich said in an exclusive interview to web portal "Construction" that the capacity of Russian polymer insulation market dropped by 12-13% last year compared to 2014 due to the deterioration of the overall economic situation.
Despite the devaluation of the rouble and economic problems, companies still made investments in this sector. Last year's investments in PS foaming were USD10.8 million. These investments included the import of 7 standard lines, of which 3 lines were for EPS processing and for the production of EPS-plates (of Styropex, Epsole Technologies and Heitz), 1 line for the production of decor from EPS and 2 lines for the production of the XPS-plates from general purpose polystyrene (GPPS of KraussMaffei Berstorff). As per MRC's estimates, an increase in these companies' processing capacities was about 8,000 tonnes of PS per year.
Foaming is the largest sector of PS consumption in Russia. This sector accounts for 60% of the styrene plastics consumption. The main products produced by foaming technology are insulation materials, which can be nominally divided into EPS and XPS, depending on the material - EPS (for EPS-plates) and GPPS (for XPS-plates). Foaming was the only sector of Russia's PS processing, which accounted for the consumption growth last year, summarized MRC analysts.
MRC