According to the forecasts of the International Energy Agency (IEA), global demand for primary polymers is expected to grow by 40% to 2030, and by 60-65% to 2050 in comparison with 2017. The production of methanol will have the largest increase, and will grow by more than 50% to 2030 and, will double up to 2050.
The IEA also predicts the sustained growth of polymers consumption in packaging and construction. It is expected that the world production of basic thermoplastics will increase by about 70% to 2050, and will reach 590 million tons against the background of the forecast sharp increase in plastics consumption in developing countries.
In Russia there will be an increase in the large-capacity polymers production to 14.4 million tons (almost three times in comparison with 2017), and consumption – by two times up to 2030. Due to increasing production Russia can become a major exporter of large-capacity polymers (exports — 6.4 million tons) to 2025, primarily polyethylene and polypropylene.