Global demand for TPEs to reach 3.1m tonnes in 2009

Cleveland, Ohio -- Global demand for thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) is forecast to increase 6.2 percent per year through 2009 to 3.1 million metric tonnes, according to a new report from Freedonia. Demand in 2004 was 2300 tonnes, up from 1614 tonnes in 1999, according to Freedonia data.

Value gains will expand an even stronger 7.4 percent per year over the same period, due to the increasing number of applications that require costlier types of TPEs and high energy prices, which will raise TPE production costs.

TPEs will continue to find the majority of their use as replacements for natural and synthetic rubber, as well as for rigid thermoplastics and metals. TPEs will continue to gain new applications in which they are over-moulded onto rigid plastic or metal components to enhance ergonomic or soft-touch” features on a wide range of products. These and other trends are presented in World Thermoplastic Elastomers, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industrial market research firm.

Through 2009, China's TPE market (the world's largest market by volume) will expand and diversify rapidly, based on the country's significant positions in the production of many of the key products manufactured with TPE parts and components.

Currently, a large portion of TPE demand in China is devoted to the country's massive footwear industry.

Growth prospects through 2009, will be strongest in developing countries. Most developing markets have initially focused on low-cost styrenic block copolymers (SBCs) due to their existing positions in styrene-butadiene and polybutadiene rubber (which also helps domestic production of SBCs), but some such as China are also significantly diversifying into compounded thermoplastic polyolefins (TPOs) and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs).

The 331-page report, titled, World Thermoplastic Elastomers, code reference, #2013, is available from Freedonia Inc. for $5200.

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