Is It A Crisis in The Plastic Industry? Or Is It A New Threshold Faced By The Plastic Industry?
The plastic industry is standing at a critical crossroads. When the price of ester granules for bottles dropped from a high of about $1250 per ton in 2022 to only $758 per ton in September 2025, established companies like Lili chose to stop producing ester granules for bottles in order to stop bleeding.
The global plastic market size is expected to reach approximately 533.59 billion US dollars by 2025 and is projected to grow to 832.62 billion US dollars by 2034. Behind the seemingly prosperous market, there is a deep turmoil in the industrial structure.
1. Industry Changes
The plastic granulation industry is undergoing a profound structural adjustment. Multiple pressures are reshaping the competitive landscape of this industry, with companies that rely on traditional equipment and business models bearing the brunt.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, except for ethylene based PVC enterprises and some Inner Mongolia enterprises, most chlor alkali enterprises have fallen into comprehensive losses. The continuous decline in industry profit margins is not only due to cyclical market fluctuations.
The global production of ester granules will reach 30.5 billion tons by 2025, with China accounting for 16.5 billion tons, more than half of the global total. The high concentration of production capacity has led to severe oversupply.
The implementation of the Minamata Convention has brought new pressure to the industry. According to the convention, the polyvinyl chloride industry must phase out mercury catalysts by 2032. The use of gold based catalysts will increase the cost of PVC by approximately 100 yuan per ton.
Environmental challenges also affect the development of the industry. By 2025, the global plastic market is expected to grow from $560.38 billion in 2026 to $832.62 billion in 2034, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.1%.
2. Profit squeeze
The cost is 5.5 yuan, the selling price is 3.5 yuan, and Chinese manufacturers even sell for only two yuan. We simply cannot compete, "said Chen Hanqing, the general manager of Lili, highlighting the common difficulties faced by plastic particle production enterprises at present.
The sharp contraction of profit margins has become a common phenomenon in the industry. According to the bi weekly report of Caixun, the price of ester granules for bottles has dropped from a high of about $1250 per metric ton in 2022 to only $758 per metric ton in September 2025, a decrease of nearly 40%.
Faced with increasingly fierce international competition, many countries and regions have taken measures. Malaysia, Canada, and the United States have successively implemented anti-dumping and equivalent tariff measures on Chinese polyester material PET in recent years.
The continuous low prices of raw materials have severely squeezed the already meager cost advantage and profit margin of recycled plastics. Some product prices even show a phenomenon of being inverted with new materials.
3. Equipment bottleneck
The survival dilemma of plastic pellet manufacturers largely stems from the disconnect between equipment and market demand. The single screw extruders still in use by many enterprises are no longer able to meet the current requirements for product quality and production efficiency.
By 2025, the global extruder machinery market is expected to reach 9.45 billion US dollars, and is projected to grow from 9.88 billion US dollars in 2026 to 14.12 billion US dollars in 2034. The market is growing, but the requirements for equipment are also increasing.
The limitations of old equipment are obvious. They often have high energy consumption, low production capacity, poor product consistency, are difficult to handle complex formulas and recycled materials, and cannot meet the high-performance and multifunctional requirements of modern plastic products.
The market demand for plastic products is developing towards high performance, environmental protection, and multifunctionality. For example, the demand for durable and lightweight high-performance plastics in the construction industry is growing.
4. Advantages of Twin Screw
The co rotating twin screw extruder is becoming a key technological equipment for industry transformation and upgrading. This efficient extruder outperforms traditional single screw equipment in multiple dimensions and can help plastic granulation manufacturers overcome current development bottlenecks.
The co rotating twin screw extruder adopts more advanced design principles. Its two screws rotate in the same direction and mesh with each other, generating strong shear force and mixing effect, ensuring that the raw materials are fully melted and evenly dispersed.
This device performs excellently in energy consumption control. It can achieve efficient plasticization at relatively low temperatures, reducing energy consumption, lowering production costs, and also minimizing thermal damage to materials.
The co rotating twin screw extruder has stronger flexibility and adaptability. It can handle various types of raw materials, including conventional resins, engineering plastics, recycled materials, and specialty materials, to meet the needs of different customers.
Twin screw extruders have higher production efficiency and more stable product quality. It can achieve continuous and stable production, reduce scrap rates, and improve product uniformity and consistency.
5. COLOWE Solution
Nanjing Kolongwell Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. has developed a series of high-performance co rotating twin screw extruders to address current industry challenges and assist plastic granulation manufacturers in achieving technological upgrades and market breakthroughs.
The modular co rotating twin screw extruder developed by the company allows users to flexibly configure according to production needs, whether it is processing conventional resins, high demand engineering plastics, or recycled materials, they can find the optimal solution.
The efficient mixing system and precise temperature control technology ensure that the raw materials are fully and uniformly plasticized during the extrusion process, significantly improving product quality consistency, especially suitable for high-end application fields with strict quality requirements.
The company focuses on optimizing the energy efficiency of equipment, and through innovative screw design and drive systems, can reduce energy consumption by 15% -30% compared to traditional equipment, directly helping customers reduce production costs and enhance market competitiveness.
To meet the needs of enterprises of different scales, COLOWE offers a full range of co rotating twin screw extruders from laboratory to industrial production, meeting customers' needs at different stages from research and development to mass production.
6. Transformation and Upgrading Path
In the face of industry changes, the transformation path of plastic pellet manufacturers can be carried out in three directions. Technological upgrading, market focus, and green transformation are the key paths for enterprises to overcome difficulties.
Enterprises should prioritize investing in efficient extruder equipment, especially co rotating twin screw extruders, to improve production efficiency and product quality. This type of equipment can help companies process more complex formulas, expand product lines, and enter high value-added markets.
Plastic pellet manufacturers should re-examine their market positioning, avoid price wars in the low-end market, and instead focus on niche areas with technical barriers or distinctive advantages, such as high-performance engineering plastics, special functional materials, etc.
Green circular economy is an inevitable trend in the development of the industry. Invest in equipment capable of processing recycled materials, develop bio based plastics and biodegradable materials, meet the market's demand for environmentally friendly products, and respond to the global call for sustainable development.
When Chen Hanqing, the general manager of Lili, exclaimed, 'Ten years ago, Lili could produce 13000 tons of processed yarn in a month, but now there are only over 3000 tons left,' the market had already given a cruel answer. The global extruder market is steadily growing in size and is expected to grow from $9.88 billion in 2026 to $14.12 billion in 2034.
The plastic industry has not disappeared, it is just evolving. The manufacturers who are the first to adopt efficient extruders and invest in co rotating twin screw extruders are quietly opening up new profit margins.
