Opaque Polymers Market - Forecast(2023 - 2028)

Opaque Polymer Market size is forecast to reach $4 billion by 2025, after growing at a CAGR of 9.5% during 2020-2025. Growing need to reduce cost of paint formulation is driving the demand for the opaque polymer. As opaque polymer is highly efficient that improve hiding and whiteness in paints and coatings. Besides, the growing construction and residential sector in emerging country such as China and India will further enhance the overall market demand for Opaque Polymer industry during the forecast period. 

 

Among the types, the solid content 30% segment is projected to grow at a higher rate over the forecast period. This growth is attributed to the rise in consumption of solid content 30% for paint formulation applications. As this type of polymer offer an increased refractive index (RI), hiding performance, and relatively good gloss. 

Segmentation based on application, in 2019, the global opaque polymer market was dominated by Paints & Coatings segment and is projected to grow at a substantial rate over the forecast period. The growing residential sector and rise in trends of architectural design in the emerging economies is projected to drive the growth of this market. 

Among the regions, the APAC region is dominated the Opaque Polymer market over the forecast period with a share of more than 30%, followed by North America and Europe. The presence of emerging economies such as China and India with a large customer base is projected to drive the growth of opaque polymer market in APAC region. Furthermore, the growing urbanization, changing living standards, growing middle class income level, and rise in construction activities across the country, will propel the growth of this market.

In today’s world, an essential balance is required between performance and price of a product. Opaque polymer serve the exact function of delivering high performance at a reduced cost when compared to the TiO2 product. This will lead to a wider acceptance of opaque polymer instead of TiO2 and thus, the market will grow at a steady pace for the forecast period. TiO2 is used extensively in walls, woodwork, motor car and kitchen appliances. Opaque polymers can easily replace TiO2 in these applications on the basis of price. As TiO2 prices are high than opaque polymers. For instance, according to Independent Commodity Intelligence Service (ICIS) report, in year 3rd quarter 2019, the TiO2 prices moved marginally higher in the North America region.

The high competition and low product differentiation has put the major manufacturing companies to shift their focus mainly on the research and development sector. Furthermore, companies are also taking more efforts for manufacturing greener chemical products that has minimal or no impact on the environment. As a result, more efficient opaque polymers are being created which serve many functions across several applications. Consequently, the market for opaque polymers promises a robust growth. For instance, on June 2017, Dow Chemical and Koehler Paper received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for the design of greener chemicals ROPAQUE™ NT-2900 Opaque Polymer for BLUE 4EST™ Thermal Paper.

There are several micro and macro-economic factors such as GDP, inflation, employment rate, and currency exchange rate are accountable for fluctuating raw material prices. Whereas, the micro and macro-economic factors are mainly driven by factors such as geo political issues between countries, trade war, unconditional climate, and viral infections. These factors are responsible for the disruption of global logistics and supply chain. This disruption will lead the raw material prices along with leave a negative impact on the demand side, due to which the overall market get affected. In present scenarios, year 2020, due to growing trade war between the US and China, and political dispute between the US, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, the prices of crude oil and other chemical commodity prices are fluctuating.

Technology launches, acquisitions and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the Opaque Polymer market. In 2018, the market of Opaque Polymer has been consolidated by the top five players accounting for xx% of the share. Major players in the Opaque Polymer Market are The DOW Chemical Company Corporation, Arkema, Ashland Global Holdings Inc. Visen Industries Limited, Interpolymer Corporation, Paras Enterprises, Organik Kimya A.S. Junneng Chemical, Croda International PLC, and Hankuck Latices Co., Ltd., among others.