ASIAN shoppers’ fondness for buying on the Internet along with the region’s steady economic growth should boost Asia’s plastics demand for the next two years.

    Asia’s e-commerce market may expand by more than 30 percent to an average per year of US$960 billion in 2017 and 2018, from an average per year of US$730 billion a year in 2015 and 2016, according to business consultants Frost & Sullivan.

    This will open up demand for polyethylene, a plastic mainly used in packaging materials like films, grocery bags and bubble wraps. Asia’s demand for polyethylene is expected to reach 41 million tons in 2017, up 5.1 percent from 2016, according to an outlook from IHS Markit.

    Asia’s surging plastics demand will defy a broader downturn in the petrochemicals sector and will mitigate “go-green” efforts that are urging bans on plastic packaging. A continued upswing in Chinese imports will also drive plastics demand, helping to maintain petrochemical margins through at least 2018.

    “Products that are manufactured are already packaged but when sold through e-commerce, they need to be individually re-packed and shrink-wrapped for transportation to end buyers,” said JP Nah, director of polyolefins at IHS Markit Chemical.

    “The increase in such ‘secondary packaging’ consumption has actually offset some of the demand lost due to the ‘green’ issues such as the banning of plastic carrier-bags or reduction of polyethylene packaging products,” he added.

    Internet shopping in Asia, particularly in China, has expanded even as overall economic growth has slowed. China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba reported second quarter sales surged 59 percent from a year ago, the most since its initial public offering in 2014.

    E-commerce is only part of the equation. The steady economic growth of countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam has boosted the every day purchase of plastic items at groceries and drug stores which leads to the solid consumption of plastic bags.

    Frost & Sullivan estimates that Asia’s polyethylene demand would be about 45 million to 46 million tons in 2016, accounting for half the world’s consumption, said Nikhil Vallabhan, senior consultant of Frost & Sullivan, Asia Pacific. (SD-Agencies)