CHINA, the world's second-biggest energy consumer, may need up to 10 percent more ethylene this year to feed the nation's rising plastics production, an industry planner said.
Demand for ethylene, a key ingredient in plastic water bottles and synthetic fibers, will increase from 17 million tons last year, Gu Zongqin, president of the government-backed China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Planning Institute, said yesterday in Beijing. China's petrochemicals makers are raising capacity and output as the world's fastest pace of economic expansion stokes demand for chemicals used to make yarn and plastics. China, whose economy grew 11.1 percent in the first quarter, imports half its ethylene needs.