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Chemical and petrochemical sector poised for recovery this year

https://www.chemnet.com   Jul 16,2010
The chemical and petrochemical industry is poised for recovery this year based on better overall performance in the first five months, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.


“For example, the production index of chemicals and chemical products expanded by 23% to 117.5 compared with 95.5,” he told reporters here yesterday after a dialogue session with representatives from the chemical and petrochemical industry.


Sales value also recorded a 25.2% increase from RM54.1bil to RM67.7bil for the January to May period. Exports of chemicals and chemical products, and petroleum products also recorded increases of 37.8% and 58.2% respectively.


Mustapa said industry players agreed that this year would be better than 2009 in terms of sales and performance while the industry expected to see steady growth in 2011.


“Given the rise in global energy demand and economic growth, the potential for growth for the chemical and petrochemical industry is tremendous,” he said.


Mustapa said it was crucial that the chemical industry leveraged on global and regional advances and learnt from past experiences to find the right solutions to ensure future growth. — Bernama


“This is an opportunity for the chemical and petrochemical industry to move up the value chain by using high-technology producing high value-added products, and reinventing into knowledge-based and skills-intensive industries,” he said.


With the increase in global energy demand, Mustapa said the contribution of the oil and gas industry was expected to rise by 20% over the next five years to reach RM81.9bil in 2015 with the downstream activities contributing RM39.8bil.


“Thus far, the development of the petrochemical industry in Malaysia is driven by the availability of hydrocarbon feedstock from the local oil and gas industry,” he said.


The industry is set for further development and growth with world-class infrastructure across the value chain, such as offshore rigs, the three integrated petrochemical zones namely in Terengganu, Pahang and Johor Baharu as well as a liquefied natural gas production site in Sarawak.


Currently, there were 42 companies in operation, producing petrochemicals with a combined capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum and 20 companies producing various types of lubricating oils, the minister said.
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