The global market for thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs), is set to grow strongly over the next five years to 2022, with the automotive industry driving demand.
This is according to new research published by Smithers Pira, where, in its report ‘The Future of Thermoplastic Elastomers to 2022’, it predicts an overall 5.5 per cent growth rate across the next five years for the material, reaching 4.24 million tonnes by 2020.
The report identifies the importance of the automotive industry in driving this growth, with growth of 5.9 per cent between 2012 – 2017 and consumption reaching 1.84 million tonnes. This represents 43.4 per cent of the total market in 2017.
The prediction for 2022 is a consumption of 2.46 million tonnes, representing a market share of 44.4 per cent and a CAGR of 6.0 per cent.
Demand from vehicle interior makers will drive TPE growth
The report also details predictions for TPE by type, with the report suggesting that the long domination of styrene-block-copolymer based TPEs (TPS) could slowly lose market share to other olefinic-based products over the next five years.
It suggests by 2022, TPS will still be the most important thermoplastic elastomer, but Smithers’ research suggests this may not last for very long. The main weaknesses of TPS, it says, are its higher price and the fact that there appear to be very few technical refinements in the pipeline.
The introduction of cross-linkable TPS is showing some promise, but this is still a long way from commercial launch. Furthermore, the low barriers to market entry for TPS is ensuring that there will continue to be overcapacity for this material for 2017-2022, especially in Asia, and particularly China.
Patrick Ellis, report author, said: “The success of thermoplastics depends on their acceptance and growth within several different industries. The automotive industry, being the most important consumer of TPE’s, sets the pace here.
“Equally, the economic health and growth of any country and region has a real effect on the supply and demand of thermoplastic elastomers. If a given market is suffering, due to outside competition, this will have a knock-on effect on TPE consumption.”