Newly discovered plastic blends are helping to satisfy the huge demand for thermoplastics being brought about by China's swelling home retail industry, according to a new report by market intelligence company GBI Research.

The new report found that new blends, which have expanded the potential uses for Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), have enabled the plastics market to keep up with orders from end-use sectors such as household appliances, and electrical and electronics products.

While the demand for ABS has been steadily increasing across the world over the last decade, a significant portion of this increase has stemmed from Asia Pacific, with the region accounting for 77.3% of global demand in 2010.

Due to high demand, China has rapidly emerged as a global petrochemical products manufacturing hub, threatening to overtake many of its competitor regions, such as the Middle East. China is the leader of the Asia Pacific ABS market, due to a high demand for thermoplastics upheld by a rapidly growing population and an increasing average income. However, the country currently imports a considerable amount of ABS in order to meet demand for the production of appliances and electronics, creating huge scope for ABS capacity additions keen to take advantage of lower operating costs than elsewhere.

Further technological advancement are expected in the sector, similar to manufacturers who are currently blending new compounds Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT), Nylon 6 and Liquid Crystalline Polymer (LCP) with ABS to create novel plastics. Constant innovation in the field is expected to further increase the demand for ABS in a wider range of applications in the future.

In 2000, global ABS demand stood at 4,560,559 tons, before increasing to 6,381,746 tons in 2010 at a CAGR of 3.4%. Global demand for ABS is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.5% from 2010-2020 to reach 10,909,987 tons in 2020.

GBI Research is a market-leading provider of business intelligence reports, offering actionable data and forecasts based on the insights of key industry leaders to ensure they stay up-to-date with the latest emerging trends in the market.