EPCA ’22: PODCAST: Europe petrochemicals face ‘winter of discontent’

BERLIN (ICIS)–Europe’s petrochemical sector faces a ‘winter of discontent’, battered by high energy costs, collapsing downstream demand and increased imports from Asia.

• Europe petrochemicals face ‘winter of discontent’
• High energy prices hurt production economics
• Downstream demand collapsing in some sectors
• Demand will be down 3% for Europe polymers in H2, compared with H1
• September pick-up in demand has been weak
• New projects due onstream in Asia will add to global oversupply
• Global polyethylene (PE) capacity to rise 6% in 2022 and 5% in 2023
• China PE demand expected to fall in 2022
• China imports less PE, re-exports more to Europe
• Russia H1 PE exports to Europe rose 20% compared to H2 2021
• Chemical company earnings will be squeezed

In this Think Tank podcast, Will Beacham interviews ICIS Insight editor Nigel Davis, ICIS senior analyst Lorenzo Meazza, and Paul Hodges, chairman of New Normal Consulting.

The European Petrochemicals Association (EPCA) annual meeting runs on 4-6 October in Berlin.

Editor’s note: This podcast is an opinion piece. The views expressed are those of the presenter and interviewees, and do not necessarily represent those of ICIS.

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