Shin-Etsu, Westlake and Formosa Group companies led the PVC resin production in the world during 2020.

After Shin-Etsu, with a production capacity of 4 million 150,000 tons, Westlake (3 million 499,000 tons) and Formosa Group (3 million 114,000 tons) were placed.

Behind this group of companies were positioned, in descending order: INEOS, Xinjiang Zhongtai, Orbia, Oxy, Hubei Yihua and Beiyuan Chemical.

In particular, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. is the largest chemical company in Japan and has the largest share of the global market for polyvinyl chloride, semiconductor silicon and photomask substrates.

Regarding the PVC/Chlor-alkali business, Shin-Etsu reported that Shintech continued to operate its plant in the United States at full capacity to maintain high levels of shipments of both PVC and caustic soda.

In April and May, this Shin-Etsu subsidiary was influenced by market conditions caused by the restriction of economic activities.

Shin-Etsu

But, after that, supply and demand fell around the world and prices went up.

Shin-Etsu also struggled to maintain sales volumes on the European and Japanese bases, and benefited from improved market conditions.

From the point of view of this Japanese company, the growth of PVC demand in the main world markets is expected to continue due to the increasing demand for housing and infrastructure construction and environmental awareness.

The supply capacity of the United States, an exporter of PVC resins, was limited mainly by last year’s hurricanes and this year’s cold wave, causing a supply shortage.

Also, the supply shortage is expected to continue for a while.

As for Orbia, the company is a leader in general resins in Mexico and Colombia, as well as in special resins in Europe and the United States.

Orbia’s main competitors in the PVC market in Latin America and Europe are Shin-Etsu, Westlake, Formosa, INEOS and OxyChem.