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Extrusion International 3/2016
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Favourable climate for the
plastics industry
T
he plastics industry in ASEAN remains
unperturbed by global developments
that are also impacting the growth path of
key industries. With K 2016, the world’s
largest trade fair for plastics and rubber,
coming up in Düsseldorf, Germany, from 19
to 26 October, we take a closer look at this
market.
The new norm of economic growths and
trends such as oil prices, variable supply and
demand, and weakening of most Asian cur-
rencies against the US dollar, have allowed
the region’s countries to rediscover their
strengths to sustain growth either individu-
ally or as a part of the collective grouping of
the 10-member ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nation), which comprises
Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar
and Cambodia.
ASEAN’s fertile consumer base with a com-
bined population of over 600 million and a
combined GDP of US$ 2.6 trillion, as well as
presence in the global market, enables the
region to tap the right opportunities, hing-
ing on the region’s rising middle class sec-
tor.
One of ASEAN’s top export sectors by value
is plastics and plastic products earning US$
39.3 billion in export revenues in 2013.
The sector’s production rates have witnessed
a steady average growth over the recent
years, especially in the ASEAN-6: Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thai-
land, and Vietnam, which account for more
than 95 % of regional GDP, according to
McKinsey & Company.
Vietnam’s relatively nascent plastics industry
had an average annual growth of 16-18 %
between 2010 and 2015. Packaging ac-
counts for 37.4 %, followed by consumer
goods (27 %), construction (18 %) and