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Fall 2024 | M&A Report In The Chemicals and Plastics Industry Sector

By Paul Naylor

November 21, 2024

The report below gives a good overview of the Fall 2024 M&A activity in the Chemicals and Plastics Industry Sector. The global plastics and chemicals industry is poised for substantial growth but faces significant transformation driven by environmental and regulatory pressures. By 2035, the plastics market is projected to expand from USD 619.34 billion to nearly USD 1 trillion, fueled by demand across construction, packaging, and automotive sectors. In fact, this expansion, which grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.3%, is in line with the increasing efforts of big manufacturers in decarbonizing their activities to programs including the Net Zero Industry Act. Industrial gases, resins, and other raw materials such as synthetic rubber are in demand due to urbanization and industrialization and the entire chemicals industry, which will be worth over USD 5 trillion in 2023, is projected to grow rapidly at 8.9% CAGR. Yet, the industry also faces evolving challenges such as the adoption of chemical recycling and mass balance credit systems, which have discredited pyrolysis as a recyclable technology. As a new UN convention on plastics is on the horizon, it is likely that regulation will alter how production is executed particularly for virgin plastics and single-use products. To increase circularity within the industry, it is anticipated that this treaty will provide measures such as levies and limits, as well as extended producer responsibility (EPR), to control waste production. More so, various initiatives like Plastics Europe's Circular Plastics Alliance have set ambitious targets for infusion of several million tons of recycled plastics by the year 2025 which has made gasification and pyrolysis technologies lucrative projects. Despite persistence and continuing resistance, this treaty is projected to influence the sector greatly in perspective of long-term forcing suppliers to actively develop in an emerging ecologically and legally obliged market.

Posted by Paul Naylor.

Read the Entire Fall 2024 Chemicals and Plastics Report Here