Expanded Polystyrene Market Trends

Expanded Polystyrene Market Overview

Expanded Polystyrene Market Size was valued at USD 11.05 billion in 2023. The Expanded Polystyrene industry is projected to grow from USD 12.01 Billion in 2024 to USD 23.22 billion by 2032, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.60% during the forecast period (2024 - 2032). Moreover, it has also been noticed that more than 65% of companies in the construction sector were being affected by the inactivities so carried out. Expanded Polystyrene formed by the polymerization process. This is a thermoplastic product composed of styrene beads. It is lightweight, has high durability and is resistant to moisture, extremely versatile. They are used for construction, building, automotive, and packaging.
In 2024, BEWI, a supplier of packaging components and insulation solutions, will introduce new expanded polystyrene (EPS) raw material grades and EPS fish boxes with lower environmental footprints. These inventions using recycled feedstock promise to minimize CO₂ emissions by up to 60%. The new fish boxes are part of BEWI's GreenLine product line, which includes goods made with recycled materials and have a lower carbon footprint. 

As part of the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi's (EAD) Single-Use Plastic Policy, which was established in 2020, a ban on a number of Styrofoam goods in the emirate will take effect on June 1, 2024. Styrofoam is a form of plastic called expanded polystyrene, and it has a variety of applications. Abu Dhabi's ban specifically targets unnecessary, single-use consumer products. The banned products include cups, lids, plates, and drinking containers made of expanded polystyrene (including caps and lids).

COVID 19 ANALYSIS

The outbreak of the pandemic had a great impact on the industry. A change in consumer behavior and a transformation in the current market trends were marked. Due to the imposition of lockdown, many production units stopped manufacturing EPS products. The decline in the growth of the construction and automotive industry was observed, which made a huge impact on the overall market sector. The industry faced an economic disruption.

 The government of many states imposed certain restrictions for the safety of nationwide people. He made strict rules and regulations for wearing masks and using sanitizers regularly.

MARKET DYNAMICS

Drivers

Products made from expanded polystyrene are convenient to use, cost-effective, and versatile. Its recyclable nature and biocompatible nature are the reasons lying behind the usage of polystyrene expanded polystyrene industries. The expansion of business in the construction industry helps in driving the growth of the industry. A special hike in energy prices is forcing the users to rise their thermal efficiency for minimizing their energy consumption thus acting as a growth drives for the market.

Opportunities

The automotive industry is attracting manufacturers to donate a certain sum in this market. The growth in demand of emerging countries has given a great opportunity to the key players to cope up with the growth of markets. Recycling these products provides opportunities for expanding the growth of the business.

Challenges

Variation in the costs of raw materials harms the manufacturing process of the market thus creating a huge challenge on the industry. Reduction in the availability of substituted solutions and materials also becomes a challenging factor.

Cumulative Growth

The growth of the expanded polystyrene market at first took place in the food industry where packing of food by bugger boxes and coffee cups were made. Highly using up of grey expanded polystyrene in construction purposes due to its insulating thermal property drives up the market. Its low water absorption capability, sound resistance capability, and mechanical resistance increase the growth of the market.

Restraints

Stringent factors and laws imposed by the government may decrease the expanded polystyrene market size.

MARKET SEGMENTATION

By type

Globally the expanded polystyrene market has been segmented into type and application. Based on type, the market is further divided into white, grey, and black expanded polystyrenes. Among all the white polystyrene markets cover a large expanded polystyrene market share. The white segment is used for various other applications like egg trays and fast foods. The grey segment covers a little large expanded polystyrene market share and shows moderate growth. Based on application, the expanded polystyrene market is divided into construction, buildings, packaging, automotive, and many more. The packaging segment occupies a large area and is famous for fish, poultry, and vegetables. The automotive segment occupies a high CAGR by replacing heavy metals with light-weight metals. The construction and building division grows at a high rate due to the usage of polystyrene in the roofs, walls, and flooring structures.

By technology

The advancement of technology had lessened its impact on the environment. The products of expanded polystyrene are made up of chlorofluorocarbons which makes the packaging non-toxic and inert. Technology has made it resistant to photolysis. Roplsturene products are not recyclable and can be reused both in the closed and open loo. Technology makes the use of recyclable products for the production of new modernized and durable polystyrene products. The adoption of Technology had led to the development of integrated chain regulated systems besides developing the recycling technology.

REGIONAL ANALYSIS

The expanded Polystyrene Industry is in high demand in five regions Asia-Pacific, North America, European region, Latin American region, Middle East, and African region. Asia Pacific region contributes much more for expansion of expanded polystyrene market size due to high growth in usage of this light-weight expanded polystyrene materials. In this region, this material is used for construction, automotive, building purposes, and many others. Here, the packaging segment is in high demand due to the growth in the substitution of cardboard products in the expanded polystyrene industry. This segment covers a large area of the expanded polystyrene market during the forecast period. Some regions of China, India, and Japan are the dominant competitors of the expanded polystyrene market.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Some of the competitors operating in the expanded polystyrene market are

• BASF SE of Germany


• ACH Foam Technologies Inc of the United States 


• Kaneka Corporation of Japan


• SABIC of Saudi Arabia


• Alpek S.A.B de C.v of Mexico


• Synbra Holding of the Netherlands 


• NOVA Chemicals Corporation of Cannada 


• StyroChem of Cannada 


• Unipol Holand B.V of the Netherlands 


•  Versalis S.P of Italy 

and many more. Investing of funds, merging and acquisitions are the major strategies operating in the industrial sector.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

• March 2021 : Around 18 European brands operating in the expanded polystyrene market covering packaging, manufacturing, recycling and raw materials, have come up with an initiative called Smart Packaging Europe. This initiative highlights the economic, social, and environmental advantages of expanded polystyrene (EPS) packaging. This initiative has come up right as the European policymakers are trying to incentivize circular packaging and resource-efficient while preventing the negative effects on the environment. Smart Packaging Europe strives to show that EPS plays a vital role in the packaging market’s future and can be an ideal environment-friendly packaging solution for numerous applications.


• August 2021 : Dixons Carphone, UK-based technology developer, has launched a new scheme that lets consumers at Currys PC World stores recycle expanded polystyrene packaging. The EPS recycling initiative indicates the company’s aim to create 100% of its own proprietary plastic packaging recyclable technology, with reducing the environmental impact being the bigger picture.


• May 22, 2020 -Agilyx Corporation (the US), a leading player in the chemical recycling of post-use plastics, announced its collaboration with Oregon Metro (Metro - the US), a regional government group, to pilot a polystyrene foam collection program. Agilyx is engaged in converting waste plastic into synthetic crude oil. It uses the chemical recycling process to convert post-use plastics back into polymers, chemicals, and low carbon fuels.


• In the year of January 2018, BEWiSynbra merged with Ruukin EPS and manufactured insulation materials. Due to this partnership, the company was highlighted to cover better areas of covering the region geographically and regionally, in Finland, and offers a wide variety of polystyrene insulation materials and good quality packaging solutions as it is being carried out in the rest of Nordics.


• In October 2016, the most renounceable company named Atlas Roofing rebuilt its expanded polystyrene facility in the regions of Perryville, Missouri which was being damaged by a fire.


• In January 2016, BEWiSyndra again launched green EPS which was manufactured from the recycled material of EPS.


• Synthia along with HBCD in May 2015, developed an EPS named Synthia EPS and thus offered packaging applications which was an improvement to other EPS components offered by Synthia.

REPORT OVERVIEW

The report gives market analysis about the geographical region spread out throughout the market. The EPS market summarises the proper segmentation of the markets. The report covers in-depth analysis about the expanded polystyrene market size and gives information about the forecast of its expansion majorly in the emerging countries.

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