POLYMERS: Strong growth continues for thermoplastic resins, slow growth for synthetic for synthetic fibers, and no growth for synthetic rubber during next 20 years

Production growth of thermoplastic resins in this country has averaged 8.6% from 1960 until the present. Partly due to the small starting bases, the growth rate was 12.2% for the first 18 years of this period. For the second 18 years, it was still a healthy 5.0%. SYnthetic (noncellulosic) fibers grew even faster between 1960 and 1978-at an average rate of 14.5% annually. Since then, synthetic fibers have grown at a 1.4% rate. Synthetic rubber production has been pretty flat for the past 20 years.