MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. Sibur boosted sales of its products on the domestic market in 2023 by reducing exports, with domestic sales of polypropylene and polyethylene rising by 11% compared with the previous year, the company said in a statement.
"In 2023, Sibur ramped up the sales of its key products, with the share of supplies to the Russian market rising to 75%. Since 2021, Sibur has been consistently increasing its sales in the domestic market, which is the company's priority, by reducing export sales and continues to stimulate further growth in local polymer processing and reducing imports of finished polymer products," the statement said.
In 2023, polymer consumption in Russia showed a record growth of 10% to 4.4 mln tons. In particular, domestic sales of polypropylene and polyethylene increased by 11% last year compared with 2022 spurred by mounting demand from Russian processors. Sales of BOPP films, elastomers, plastics and organic synthesis products grew by 16%, 8%, and 11%, respectively.
"As the main raw material for polymers and elastomers is LPG, Sibur's facilities have quadrupled its consumption over the last five years to more than 70% of the fractionation volume, which translated into lower exports of this product," the company said.
"Transport showed the most impressive growth in polymer consumption" in 2023, according to Sibur. Since early 2022, the company has developed new grades of polypropylene, polyethylene, ABS, polycarbonate, and rubbers for the transport industry with a potential of more than 90,000 tons per year. Consumer goods producers also increased their demand for polymers by 7% due to the growth in the country's output of footwear, household appliances, and toys.
The construction industry's demand for polymers exceeded 1.6 mln tons per year. Last year also saw an increase in polymer consumption by agriculture and healthcare, up 1.5% and 6%, respectively, the company added.
Sibur is a major vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemical company, which consolidates production sites in different Russian regions.