Manufacturing Growth to Support US Polystyrene Demand

Cleveland, OH, August 20, 2021 — Demand for polystyrene resin in the US is forecast to see modest annual increases in volume terms through 2025, according to Polystyrene: United States, a report recently released by Freedonia Focus Reports. Suppliers will benefit from growth in the manufacture of products that utilize polystyrene such as building products, appliances, electrical equipment, and furniture. Product introductions – such as more environmentally friendly polystyrene resins – will also spur gains. Continued developments in polystyrene recycling and expanding use of recycled content will improve polystyrene’s environmental profile and support the resin’s use. However, limited existing infrastructure for such recycling will prevent faster growth in the recycling of polystyrene foam. Further demand gains will be limited by competition from more environmentally friendly resins, such as polylactic acid (PLA), and from other resins and materials such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and paper and paperboard. Finally, state and municipal bans, and voluntary corporate bans on single-use polystyrene foam in products such as disposable drinking cups and food takeout containers will also limit gains.

These and other key insights are featured in Polystyrene: United States. This report forecasts to 2021 and 2025 US polystyrene resin demand and shipments in pounds and demand in nominal US dollars at the producer level. Total demand in pounds is segmented by form in terms of:

• crystal (solid)
• rubber-modified
• expanded

Total demand in pounds is also segmented by market as follows:

• consumer and institutional
• packaging
• building products
• electrical and electronic
• other markets such as furniture and furnishings, industrial machinery, and transportation

To illustrate historical trends, total demand, total shipments, the various segments, and trade are provided in annual series from 2010 to 2020.

Recycled polystyrene resin is excluded from the scope of this report. Re-exports of polystyrene resin are excluded from demand and trade figures.

This report includes the results of a proprietary national online consumer survey of US adults (age 18+). This Freedonia Focus Reports National Survey has a sample size of approximately 2,000, screened for response quality, and representative of the US population on the demographic measures of age, gender, geographic region, race/ethnicity, household income, and the presence/absence of children in the household.

More information about the report is available at:

https://www.freedoniafocusreports.com/Polystyrene-United-States-FF55043/?progid=91541