Global Polyols Market to Reach 4.33 Billion Pounds by 2017

GIA announces the release of a comprehensive global report on Polyols markets. The world market for Polyols is forecast to reach 4.33 billion pounds by 2017, steered by evolving consumer needs and rising awareness about nutritional and health benefits of foods. Growing application in various end-use sectors including food & confectionery, industrial and pharmaceuticals has led to an accelerated demand for polyols. Additionally, high powered demand from emerging markets of Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Eastern Europe is expected to fuel future growth in the polyols market.

Global polyols market is quite mature and volume growth tends to follow the trends and dynamics of the large end-use markets and consumer products. Europe, US and Asia-Pacific would continue to be the major regions in terms of polyol consumption. Recuperation of the overall economic environment and increase in disposable income resulted in drastic lifestyle changes. Over the years, consumers globally have become more concerned about nutritional and health benefits of food. In industrialized countries particularly, people are more concerned about their physique and in turn the calorie content in food. This has entailed food producers to focus on the changing trends and seek alternatives that would abet in reducing calorie content without compromising on taste and appearance. These trends have become evident in almost all food categories, particularly beverages, confectionery, preserves, bakery products and snacks.

Among the several methods adopted to reduce the calorie content in food such as fat replacement, the substitution of commercial sugar with polyols has gained wide application. With a sweet taste and fewer calories than sugar, polyols are perfect for low-calorie, reduced fat, and sugar free products. Polyols have also found large applications in oral hygiene products such as toothpaste and mouthwashes. Polyols provide a sweet taste and are non-carcinogenic in many cases. Further, polyols are also used on a large scale for pharmaceutical preparations. In addition, polyols serve as intermediates in the production of chemicals and are also used in plastic production.

Polyols find maximum use in industrial applications. The most important industrial application of polyols is in the production of polyurethane. Global polyurethane market is witnessing the introduction of new products, highly influenced by the changing market trends for conventional products. Natural Oil-based Polyols (NOP) constitutes one of the significant new arrivals in the market, hampering the growth of traditional petroleum products. Heavy rise in petroleum prices forms the principal reason for the decline in demand for commercial polyols. Renewable polyols, extracted from vegetables such as rapeseed, sunflower, and soybeans are witnessing increasing demand in most countries including the Eastern and Western Europe.

One of the major factors adversely affecting polyols market across the world has been the high pricing pressure, resulting in a decline of prices for most of the polyols in recent years. Further, polyol production for food and pharma application entails highly sophisticated facilities. Capital and raw material costs primarily account for a major portion of production costs. However of late, declining prices are driving the trend towards multi-purpose and larger production facilities. For most of the major players, the polyols segment is an add-on business. The polyols business has been developed out of the traditional cereal and starch or sugar processing business. Though the contribution of polyols to their turnover has been small, their contribution to profits has become substantial. This is primarily because polyols are value-added products compared to standard grain derivatives.

The developed US and European markets constitute two of the largest worldwide consumers of polyols accounting for a substantial share in the global market, as stated by the new market research report on Polyols. Increasing health and nutritional concerns and rising demand for low calorie sweeteners in the US and Euorpe aid in sustaining market momentum and development. On the other hand, emerging markets such as China fuel growth in the Asia-Pacific market, slated to register rapid gains at a CAGR of about 3.8% over the analysis period. Industrial applications represents the single largest end-use sector for polyols, with polyether polyols (PETP) and polyester polyols (PESP) finding maximum usage. Polyols are also finding increased applications in other industrial areas such as paints and coatings, adhesives and sealants, microcellular elastomers and others. Polyol sweeteners market is slated for a significant growth in the food and confectionery arena, driven by nutrition concerns, competitive pricing and establishment of new production facilities.

Major players profiled in the report include BASF Group, BASF Polyurethanes GmbH, Bayer AG, Cargill Inc., Chemtura Corp., Corn Products U.S., Daicel Corporation, Dow Chemical Company, Huntsman Corp., Lonza Microbial Control, Nanjing Hongbaoli Co. Ltd., Perstorp AB, Roquette Freres, Shell Chemicals Ltd., SINOPEC Shanghai Gaoqiao Company, and Stepan Co.

The research report titled “Polyols: A Global Strategic Business Report” announced by Global Industry Analysts Inc., provides a strategic review of the industry, key market trends, product profile, product launches, recent industry activity, and profiles of key market participants. The report provides annual sales estimates and projections for the years 2009 through 2017 in volume (pounds) terms for geographic markets including, US, Canada, Japan, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Latin America. Key end-use segments analyzed include, Industrial Applications, Food & Confectionery, Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics, Oral-Care Products, and Others. The study also provides historic data for an insight into market evolution over the period 2003 through 2008.