Global Plastics and Composites Outlook, 2022

Global Plastics and Composites Outlook, 2022

Frost & Sullivan’s annual outlook for the plastics and composites industry provides an overview of the industry in 2021 and highlights disruptive, transformational, and competitive trends that are expected to impact industry growth in 2022. The protracted disruption of the supply chain because of natural calamities, ensuing force majeure events, energy shortages, container shortages, and freight challenges, continued to drive upward pressure on resin prices in 2021. While overall consumption registered a recovery of 4.5% in 2021 (in terms of volume), the unprecedented rise in resin prices resulted in revenue registering a robust growth of 16.1% in 2021. Sustainability and circular economy are the most important issues in the plastic industry. Though the pandemic and the ensuing disruption served as short-term impediments to the shift away from single-use plastics, 2022 is expected to witness a resurgence in downward pressure as legislations, restrictions, taxes, and bans are introduced (or will take effect) across geographies. Stakeholders across the value chain and end industries are increasingly ramping up collaborative development of circular material flows in the wake of both tightening regulations and growing customer demand. Chemical recycling will be a mainstream, effective means to achieving circularity. Higher customer demand and the ever-growing investment in supply will augur well for commercialization and scaling up of biobased, greener plastics.

While some Mega Trends propel growth, others will challenge the status quo. Diversified industry majors are expected to continue scouting for measures to strategically enable the shift of focus toward higher margins, and sustainable and less-cyclical businesses.This research service analyzes the global plastics and composites industry in 2021 across various applications and its outlook for 2022. The key material types analyzed in the study include polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Polystyrene (PS), engineering plastics, high-performance plastics (HPPs), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyurethanes (PU), and so on. The main end industries covered include automotive, building and construction, consumer goods and household, electrical and electronics, medical, packaging, and others (such as sports and leisure, agriculture, footwear, wind turbine applications, and oil and gas pipelines). The study identifies the top 8 predictions for 2022 and discusses the potential implications for each industry segment. Key growth opportunities, companies to watch out for, and strategic imperatives for success are also provided. The base year is 2021, and the forecast year is 2022.


  • Growth Environment
    • Key Highlights
    • Industry Challenges
    • Challenges Ahead of the Plastics and Composites Industry in 2022
    • Forecast Versus Actual—2021: Plastics and Composites Market
    • Revenue Forecast by Application
      • Table Plastics and Composites: Revenue Forecast by Application, Global, 2018–2022
    • Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Revenue Forecasts
    • Top Predictions for 2022
  • Strategic Imperatives
    • Why is it Increasingly Difficult to Grow?
    • The Strategic Imperative 8™
    • The Impact of the Top Three Strategic Imperatives on Plastics and Composites Industry
    • Growth Opportunities Fuel the Growth Pipeline Engine™
  • Macroeconomic Factors Impacting the Plastics and Composites Industry
    • Global GDP Growth
      • Table GDP Growth, Global, Advanced, and Emerging and Developing Economies, 2015–2022
    • 2022 Scenario Analysis: Quarterly Global Growth
    • 2022 Scenario Analysis: Assumptions
    • 2022 Global GDP Growth Snapshot
    • Major Economic and Political Decisions Affecting Plastics and Composites
    • Notable M&As in 2021
  • Growth Opportunity Analysis
    • Scope of Analysis
    • Segmentation
    • Value Chain
    • Value Chain Analysis
    • Forecast Assumptions
    • Revenue Forecast by Application
      • Table Plastics and Composites: Revenue Forecast by Application, Global, 2018–2022
    • Revenue Forecast by Polymer Type
      • Table Plastics and Composites: Revenue Forecast by Polymer Type, Global, 2018–2022
    • Volume and Revenue Forecast
      • Table Plastics and Composites: Volume and Revenue Forecast, Global, 2018–2022
    • Global Plastics and Composites Market by Region in 2022
  • Key Predictions for 2022
    • Key 2021 Plastics and Composites Market Trends
    • Prediction 1: Development and Commercialization of Materials for 5G Applications to Gain Momentum
    • Prediction 2: Rapid Automotive Electrification to Upend the Demand for Certain Plastics and Drive Adoption of Others
    • Prediction 3: Strategic Reorganization in the Industry with Global Majors Carving Out or Divesting Certain Plastics Businesses and/or Assets
    • Prediction 4: Mainstreaming or Commercialization of Chemical Recycling and Chemical Recycling Grades
    • Prediction 5: Recycling Companies to Continue Being Hot Acquisition Targets Within the Plastics Value Chain
    • Prediction 6: Focus on Bioplastics
    • Prediction 7: Resurgence in Pressure on Single-use Plastics After a Momentary Blip
    • Prediction 8: Development and Commercialization of Antimicrobial and Smart Food Packaging to Gain Momentum
  • Application Outlook 2021
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: Automotive & Transportation
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: Consumer Goods and Household
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: Building and Construction
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: Electrical and Electronic
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: Medical
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: Packaging
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: Other End Applications
  • Product (Polymer Type) Outlook 2022
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: Polyethylene
    • Polyethylene—Companies to Watch Out for
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: Polypropylene
    • Polypropylene—Companies to Watch Out for
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: PVC
    • PVC—Companies to Watch Out for
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: PET
    • PET—Companies to Watch out for
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: Polyurethane Foams
    • Polyurethane Foams—Companies to Watch Out for
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: Polystyrene
    • Polystyrene—Companies to Watch Out for
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: Engineering Plastics*
    • Engineering Plastics—Companies to Watch Out for
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: High-performance Plastics (HPPs)¹
    • High-performance Plastics—Companies to Watch Out for
    • 2021 Market Snapshot: Other Plastics*
  • Regional Outlook 2021
    • 2022 Predictions: North America
    • 2022 Predictions: Latin America
    • 2022 Predictions: Europe
    • 2022 Predictions: MEA
    • 2022 Predictions: India
    • 2022 Predictions: Japan
    • 2022 Predictions: Rest of APAC
  • Growth Opportunity Universe
    • Plastics and Composites—Key Growth Opportunities
    • Growth Opportunity 1: Investments in Upscaling Technologies for Chemical Recycling and Decoupling Petroleum Feedstock from Plastics
    • Growth Opportunity 2: Composites for EV Lightweighting and Lowloss- grade Plastics for 5G
    • Growth Opportunity 3: Plastics for Renewable Energy Applications— Photovoltaic
    • Growth Opportunity 4: Plastics and Composites for Aerospace Applications
    • Growth Opportunity 5: Innovative, Smart and Functional Packaging for FMCG Applications
  • Key Conclusions
  • Appendix
    • Abbreviations And Acronyms Used
    • Learn More— Next Steps

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