Increasing demand from Asia Pacific's construction sector drives global composites growth

18-Mar-15

The market for composites end market in terms of value is expected to reach around US$90 bln by 2020, growing at a significant CAGR 7-9% from 2015 to 2020, as per MarketsandMarkets. The Asia-Pacific region dominated the composites market in terms of volume in 2014 and it is expected to grow at a higher CAGR, from 2015 to 2020. Large construction industry, wind and increasing automotive and aerospace & defense industry in Asia-Pacific region helped it to dominate the global composites market. Construction market in Asia-Pacific is the major driving factor for the composites application market. The demand of light weight automotive parts has given an edge to composites due to its high strength and light weight properties. The use of composites enabled automotive parts reduction in light weight vehicles, improved engine efficiency, reduction in CO2 emissions and superior performance. The automotive industry can benefit from composites in several applications such as powertrain, suspension and breaking systems, exhaust systems and catalytic converters, lubrication, tires and body parts. The advantage of composites over conventional composites is that their mechanical, electrical, thermal, barrier and chemical properties such as increased tensile strength, improved heat deflection temperature, flame retardancy etc. As automakers in U.S. work to meet Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standards of 36.6 mpg by 2017 and 54.5 mpg by 2025, vehicle weight reduction has become a major strategy. The use of composites in automobiles can help the manufacturers to achieve the target with improved mileage Asia-Pacific is the prime consumer of composites globally followed by North America. North America and Asia-Pacific together accounted for more than 68% of the composites in terms of volume in 2014. Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at a highest CAGR and secure its leading market position by 2020, with increasing demand from automotive, wind, and construction market. In North America the use of composites continues to increase in aerospace & defense and automotive industries to replace the other conventional composites that reduces the weight of vehicles and increases the mileage.