Outram, speaking on the first day of the Urethanes Technology International CASE Study conference in Amsterdam, said that the greatest growth in Asia would be in spandex fibers, which is likely to grow by 11.8 percent. These will be followed by synthetic leather and TPU elastomers at 6.9 percent and cast elastomers at around 4 percent. The slowest growth will be in RIM/RRIM applications.

 

Outram said that the growth in fiber applications was partly due to the relatively high price of cotton.

 

Outram also suggested that the global market for thermoplastic polyurethanes is likely to grow by 5 percent compound annual growth rate from 428kT/year to 547kT/year between 2012 and the end of 2017. This is being driven by applications in the Asia Pacific region.