Extrusion is the most important process of the plastics industry. Plastic extrusion is a method used for producing fixed cross-sectional profile plastic products.
According to the market research company Ceresana, more than 114 million tonnes of plastics are processed with extrusion process worldwide every year.
The extrusion process can produce both flexible and rigid objects that can be compact or cellular. The processing ranges from the film, pipe, and profile extrusion to sheet, ram, and cold extrusion up to co-extrusion.
In this article, we will mainly discuss about the plastic extrusion industry, such as the industry overview and the most important plastic-type for the extrusion industry.
Plastic extrusion industry overview
A plastic extrusion machine is an energy-efficient solution for producing a large volume of continuous plastic products. The features of plastic extruders include robustness, ease of operation, higher manufacturing rates, and high quality.
The growth of the plastic extrusion market is driven by the rising demand for various end-use industries such as automotive, packaging, construction, etc. According to the "Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020¨C2027", the global plastic extrusion market was valued at $6.3 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $7.9 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 4.5% from 2020 to 2027.
The most important sales market for plastic extrusion products is the packaging industry. The category of packaging mainly includes plastic films, bags, sacks, shrink and stretch films. The main plastic-type in the packaging is LLDPE, followed by PP and LDPE.
The second-largest sales market is the construction industry. The major type of plastic in the construction industry is PVC: In 2015, about 22.5 million tonnes of this material were used. Many construction components are plastics, such as floors, covers, facade elements, coatings, sheets, sealants, small parts, and fastenings.
Classification of the plastic extrusion industry
lBy type: LDPE, HDPE, Polypropylene, Polystyrene, PVC, etc. PVC is widely used for plastic extrusion.
lBy application: Packaging, construction, automotive, consumer goods, electrical and electronic. The main sales market for plastic extrusion products is the packaging industry.
lBy region: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. The Asia Pacific emerged as the quickest growing region in 2020.
PVC: the most important plastic-type for extrusion
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is made up of by-products from the chemical industry. For this condition, PVC is one of the most cost-effective plastics, along with polypropylene and polyethylene.
Over the past eight years, the global need for products made of PVC rose by an average of 2.3% per year. According to Ceresana's analysis of the growing PVC market, the demand for robust and versatile materials will increase to around 57 million tonnes worldwide by 2030.
The construction industry remains a key market for PVC in the future, accounting for around two-thirds of the global requirement. The primary application in the construction industry include pipes, window frames, doors, panels, cables, and cable sheathing. Flooring also has a significant share of global PVC demand.
The second-largest market is the packaging industry, which uses PVC for flexible and rigid packaging, with a share of nearly 16.5%. Other industries of PVC applications include shoe soles, coatings, and medical products.
How Boyu can help you
Boyu Plastic Machinery is a professional plastic extrusion machine manufacturer. Our company has over 20 years of plastic extrusion experience. We are specialized in the production of PVC flooring extrusion production lines.
We provide professional technical support with more than 90 technical international and national patents. Our products include a full set of systematic solutions from plastic floor extruders to entire extrusion production lines.
We are looking forward to becoming your reliable partner in the industry of plastic extrusion. Contact us!