Orlando, Florida - Polyurethane production by members of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is, "strong but changing," according to the 2006 End-Use Market Survey on the Polyurethanes Industry in the US, Canada and Mexico. The survey, released 24 Sept at the Polyurethanes 2007 Technical conference in Orlando, held in conjunction with the UTECH North America exhibition, indicates that between 2005-2006, Mexico registered 4.9 percent volume growth for established PU products "as it continues to evolve as an important low-cost base for many industries, notably automobiles and appliances," said a 24 Sept announcement from the Centre for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI). During the same period, the survey, conducted by IAL Consultants, showed that US and Canadian volume was "down slightly or flat, respectively, as manufacturers shifted their focus to high-performance, high-growth specialty markets such as viscoelastic foams, natural oil polyols (NOPs) and waterborne polyurethane dispersions (WBPUDs)." IAL conducted the market survey on behalf of the CPI, part of the American Chemical Council (ACC). US production dropped by 3.4 percent from 2004-2006, to 6266 million pounds, Canada's rose 1 percent to 73.5 million pounds, while Mexico's rose 5 percent to 549 million pounds, the IAL survey showed.In total, NAFTA production dropped 2.3 percent to 7550 million pounds during the period. "The slight decline in polyurethane volume production in the U.S. over the last two years is not surprising when you consider the increase in imported goods, slowdowns in automotive production and consumer spending, and the interruption of production after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.", said Neeva-Gayle Candelori, CPI director of CPI. "Although overall polyurethane production in North America declined by 2.3 percent a year between 2004-2006, all three NAFTA countries have resilient, healthy PU industries," commented IAL associate director Angela Austin. "The ebb and flow of volume is, in part, a reflection of rapidly changing global dynamics that are shifting certain types of production to low-cost geographies in Asia and Latin America," Austin added."
