Has the current economic slowdown and rise in oil prices affected the growth rate?
The normal growth rate of the plastic industry is 15%. The industry has been growing at this rate for the past few years. But growth has been different for different sectors. Certain sectors like PVC pipes had low growth whereas HDPE pipes for ductlines for laying optic fibres had phenomenal growth. Reliance, themselves, have put up a capacity of 80,000 tonnes per year. Kabra Extrusion along with its collaborator Battenfield has supplied and installed all the lines in a record time of three months. The packaging sector has been growing constantly at a rate of more than 25%. The overall consumption of plastics, which is 3.5 million tonnes this year, is expected to grow at a rate of 15%. It is a fact that the plastic industry is the fastest growing industry in the world. Generally speaking, the current economic slowdown and the rise in oil prices have not affected the plastic industry much except for the fluctuations in prices of polymers. A rise in prices of raw materials puts pressure
