Hajkowicz, et al., reported in 2013 that chemicals and plastics play a vital role in society and are used to produce nearly everything we consume. The Australian chemicals and plastics industry is a critical part of most domestic supply chains and feeds essential products into almost every sector of the Australian economy including manufacturing, construction, mining, agriculture and healthcare. Because it supplies so many downstream industries, innovations within the chemicals and plastics industry have the potential to have a very large multiplier effect across the broader Australian economy.
To continue to meet the needs of Australian consumers and industry, the chemicals and plastics industry must address a number of challenges and opportunities it currently faces. While the global chemicals and plastics industry is growing rapidly, the domestic industry is lagging behind. Since 2007, industry value added has been stagnant, the number of businesses operating domestically has decreased, and employment in the industry has declined.
Australian industry and consumers are becoming increasingly reliant on imports. The percentage of imported chemical and plastic products rose from 31 percent to 38 percent between 2005-06 and 2008-09) Since 2005, Australia’s trade deficit in chemical and plastic products has been increasing by 5 percent per year. A primary driver behind this is the increase in supply of cost competitive imported chemical and plastic products, particularly from China,South Korea, Singapore and India. At the same time, as identified in a prior CSIRO report entitled “Elements in Everything,” shifts in global economic, social and environmental conditions will create new opportunities for the chemicals and plastics industry. Technological advances, changing environmental regulations, shifting consumer preferences and societal trends have the potential to open up new market growth areas for the industry.
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