OREANDA-NEWS.  April 27, 2012. Players in both China and Vietnam report that polymer demand in their respective countries has
been slowed by weakness in the construction sector and slower than expected economic growth rates. Both traders and converters complained that their sales have dropped significantly when compared with the same period in the past year as a result of the disappointingly sluggish economic environment.

According to local media reports, investment in China’s property market is slowing down while sales of new houses are declining as reduced economic growth and government efforts to constrain inflation in the country’s property sector have reined in construction activity.

Chinese builders broke ground on 294.27 million square meters of new housing space in the first quarter of 2012, a decrease of 5.2% when compared with the same period of last year. 152.39 million square meters of housing space was sold during the first quarter, a drop of 13.6% year over year.

Meanwhile, sources in the real estate industry estimated that the Chinese housing market contained enough unsold housing space to meet demand for the next four and half months.