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Information on the polyurethane market is now available from IAL Consultants (Ealing, London), which has announced the first edition of A Global Overview of the Polyurethane Dispersions (PUD) Market.
According to IAL, the market for PUDs in 2009 has been estimated at 227,350 tonnes and is expected to grow by 5.2% to 292,300 tonnes by 2014. One of the main drivers for this growth is the substitution of solvent-containing products with more environmentally-friendly equivalents.
The slowest growth in the application segments is expected to be the industrial coatings sector at 4.5%. The strongest growth is expected in leather and textile industries (6.2%). Market growth in adhesives and fiber glass sizing is expected to fall within this range, according to IAL.
However, in the Americas, PUD production is strongly geared towards industrial coatings, which accounts for 43,000 out of 66,900 tonnes in 2009. According to IAL, the U.S. market is noticeably different from Europe. The reason, says the report, is that compared to Europe, the U.S. has stricter regulations on hazardous solvent content in coatings, so water-borne coating formulations are more common.
The new publication states that Europe, the Middle East, and Africa are the most important regions for the production of PUDs, estimating about 103,000 tonnes in 2009. Europe has the largest market for UV-curable PUDs at about 6,500 tonnes.
In Asia, the market for UV-PUDs is smaller than Europe but growing strongly. High solvent prices in China are responsible for turning the industry towards water-borne products.
The IAL report states that overall development of the market has been limited mainly by the fact that PUDs are high-end products and their relatively high price has had a prohibitive effect on their consumption. The report states that this is especially true in the coatings industry where cheaper alternatives are available.
For more information on the new title, visit www.ialconsultants.com.
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