Polyethylene, polypropylene and ammonia are poised to dominate upcoming petrochemical project starts globally by 2030. This can be ascribed to robust economic growth, and escalating demand for these commodities from end‑use sectors such as packaging, automotive, medical, construction and agriculture, especially in countries such as China, India and Iran.

Polyethylene is set to lead global petrochemical project starts, with 127 projects expected to come online during the 2025 to 2030 outlook period. Most of these projects will be new builds, with a few being expansions. China is projected to take the lead globally in project starts, accounting for one-third of upcoming polyethylene projects by 2030, all of which will be new builds and primarily under construction. Iran and Russia are expected to follow, with 20 and 17 projects respectively.

Source: Global Data: *New build: A project that is being built for the first time.​

*Expansion: An expansion of an existing/operational project.

Polypropylene is another major commodity with significant project starts during the outlook period. Of the 121 polypropylene projects expected to commence operations by 2030, 118 are new build projects and the remainder are expansions of the existing projects. China once again leads, accounting for more than 40% of these. 35 are currently under construction, with more likely to commence operations by 2030.

Ammonia ranks next, with 83 new build and nine expansion projects expected to begin operations by 2030. The US leads in terms of the project starts with 16 projects, followed by Australia and China, each with eight. The US has three projects are currently under construction, China has four and Australia one. Further details of petrochemical projects expected to come online from 2025 to 2030 can be found in GlobalData’s new report: “Petrochemicals New-Build and Expansion Projects Outlook by Key Commodities, Region and Development Stage to 2030”.