Analysis on Pakistan Soft Grade PVC Market

Pakistan is one of countries which have a very low per capita PVC
consumption. This is mainly due to low development/construction activities
due to stagnant economy and un-developed PVC market.
PVC market can be divided into two main categories.
PVC Resin Market: Dominated by Engro Polymer and Chemical Pvt
Limited with 78% market Share.
PVC Compound Market: Adamjee Polymer, Pakistan Cables and AcroPlast
being major Players.
PVC RESIN MARKET:

In Pakistan Engro Polymer and Chemical Limited is the only fully integrated
Chlor Vinyl Chemical Complex. It is involved in the manufacturing and
distribution of PVC and Chlor Vinyl allied products.

PVC RESIN MARKET

Scrap; 5% Smuggling; 2% EPCL
Imports
Imports; 15%
Scrap
Smuggling
EPCL; 78%

EPCL started as the only PVC manufacturer in Pakistan with a capacity of

100,000 tons per annum and its operations are located at Port Qasim in
Karachi. Its plant was commissioned in November 14, 1999 and IFC
assisted in the financing of this plant. In 2009, EPCL made expansion in the
plant horizontally and vertically by installing 50,000 tons more PVC resin
facility and a facility to manufacture Ethylene di Chloride (EDC) and Vinyl
Chloride Monomer (VCM), which are the basic raw material and PVC resin
manufacturing. In order to diversify the business and lessen its
dependence on the PVC resin business, EPCL also installed Caustic Soda
plant with a capacity of 105,000 tons. Now EPCL has a capacity of
producing 178,000 tons of PVC, 127,000 tons of EDC, 204,000 tons of
VCM and 107,000 tons of Caustic Soda, annually.
EPCL Products
Being the sole manufacturer of PVC resin in the country, EPCLs PVC resin
sold under the brand name of SABZ dominates the domestic market. SABZ
is available in 5 variations listed below,
SABZ PVC AU-58
SABZ PVC AU-60
SABZ PVC AU-67S
SABZ PVC AU-67R
SABX PVC AU-72
The above listed products differ in their molecular weight and are used
according to application. SABZ PVC AU-72 is a high molecular weight
suspension resin, therefore, it is used as a raw material in the production of
electrically insulated PVC cables. Whereas, SABS AU-60 is a medium-low
molecular weight suspension resin and is used as raw material in the rigid
PVC application.

Major Customers

The customer base of the Company comprises of all categories of PVC

application manufacturers. The largest domestic consumer is the Pipe
Sector. This sector is showing strong growth on a consistent basis. This is
because the PVC pipes are now increasingly used in housing and
construction,

water

supply

and

sewerage, telecommunications and

agriculture.
The Companys other customers using soft grade product AU-67S include
manufacturers of artificial leather, shoes, garden hoses, cable compounds,
films, rigid sheets, etc.

Soft Grade PVC Market Size

In order to know the proportion of Soft Grade PVC market we conducted
interviews with EPCL, Area Sales Manager for South (Sindh &Balochistan).

AU-67 S Sales Volume, KTA

35
30
25
20
Axis Title

15
10
5
0

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

He shared that Soft grade PVC is 15~20% of total PVC production and
based on annual sales of AU-67S for last five years it is estimated that Soft
Grade market is growing at an annual rate of 5%.

PVC Compound Market

Beside PVC resin, there are PVC compound producers, they purchase
PVC resin and produce PVC compound after careful mixing of plasticizers
to match the specification for different grade of PVC Compound.

PVC Compound Producers

Adamjee
Polymer
Pakistan Cables
AcroPlast
Imports
Scrap

Major Market Players Include

Adamjee Polymer & Chemicals Private Limited (APCPL): They source PVC
resin from Thai Plastic & Chemicals Private Limited.

Pakistan Cables: They buy PVC resin from EPCL & also import from
international market to produce Soft Grade PVC Compound.
AcroPlast Pvt. Limited: They buy PVC from EPCL and produce various
grades of Soft Grade PVC compounds.
Imports from CHINA, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, US, Germany & UK.
Scrap: Scrap available in local market.

PVC Industry Wise Consumption

Following Chart shows industry wise break up of PVC demand for various
industries.

For Soft grade following are major customers for various Industries.

Cable Compound: Pakistan Cables, Million Cables, Pioneer Cables,

Universal Cables, Allied Cables & HM Cables.
Garden Hose: National Pipe, Atiq Hose, Adamjee Hose, M Ilyas Feroz.
Shrink Wrap: TMI, Al-Huda Plastics and Lahore Plastics.
Shoe Industry: Rehmat Plastics and Various other small vendors from KPK
province.
Artificial Leather: ATS Synthetic, Khalid Industries and Allied Plastics

Conclusion
From the above analysis and data it is concluded that EPCL enjoys the
monopoly in PVC market and is the sole producer & distributor of PVC
Resin with 78% market share and remaining gap is filled by imports, scrap
and smuggling.
Further, Soft grade market accounts approximately 15~20% of total PVC
market with 35~40 KTA volume and annual growth of 5%.