Chemicals sector executives are increasingly facing up to the idea that the sector is going through a process of reinvention, with no big recovery on the horizon and a return to pre-crisis normalcy less likely. Executives are now looking at what the next steps for the sector will be.

In this Think Tank podcast, Tom Brown interviews Paul Hodges, chairman of New Normal Consulting, Katherine Sale, ICIS head of editorial strategy, and Chris Barker, senior editor covering PVC and caustic soda, on impressions from the EPCA assembly.

According to attendees at the annual European Petrochemical Association (EPCA) conference in Berlin held during 7-10 October, consumption in 2025 is not expected to recover for mixed xylenes (MX), paraxylene (PX) and orthoxylene (OX), with various hurdles highlighted.

In this episode, market editors Zubair Adam (MX) and Miguel Rodriguez Fernandez (PX, OX) along with Rob Peacock, ICIS lead analyst for aromatics, share the sentiment captured after talking with various market players at the conference.

Ahead of the 3rd ICIS Recycled Polymers Conference in Berlin on 7 November, Senior Analyst for Recycling Egor Dementev discusses the challenges and opportunities for both mechanical and chemical recycling with Annick Meerschman, Innovation Director at CEFIC.

PLUS... 20 CEFIC members are entitled to receive 50% off their registration to the ICIS Recycled Polymers Conference by using code: ICISCEFICMEM

Offer is run on a first come first serve basis.

Topics covered include:

• Innovations driving plastic recycling in Europe
• Chemical recycling technology evolution
• Impact of legislation and regulation
• Challenges facing the recycling industry