With PVC demand down, it’s no wonder that buyers and suppliers are taking a close look at the market for PVC.  According to the American Chemistry Council, US/Canada PVC demand is down 12% for the year (through August 2009).  Sales and captive use of PVC are sitting at 9.7 billion pounds, through August 2009.

With demand down, PVC resin production is down 10.9 %, per the ACC.  Therefore compounders and resin suppliers alike want to understand their market share to determine their strategy going forward.

In a survey of 1845 PVC resin buyers throughout US & Canada, Townsend revealed that PVC purchases are split about 50/50 between resin processors and resin compounders. 

What types of PVC resin are in demand?  In US & Canada, 93% of PVC resin sold is suspension homopolymer, 3% is disperson or paste resin, while 2% is suspension copolymer and the remaining 2% is undefined. 

Formosa is the leading supplier of Suspension PVC-resins with 25% market share, followed by Shintech, OxyVinyls, Georgia Gulf, Westlake, Certainteed, Polyone, SABIC and others.

The majority of PVC resin is still processed for the pipe, conduit and tubing markets.  Forty-eight percent of all PVC resin sold in the US & Canada is for these markets.  Another 14% is used for window & door profiles, 22% is compounded, while the remaining 16% of the market is split amongst several markets.

PVC-Compound supply is lead by distributors with 23% market share, followed by Georgia Gulf, compounders, Polyone, Shintech, Formosa and other suppliers.

PVC-Compound is converted predominantly by the following processes: pipe/conduit/tubing (25%), profile (23%), injection molding (10%), compounding (10%) and wire & cable (9%).

By looking at the PVC market share by resin, supplier, buyer type, process, market, application and state or province, companies are making strategic decisions about their business.