Polymeric foam, although a small proportion of the total plastic market, would be about 7% of the total polymer consumption in 2007. The foam industry is expected to witness steady growth since cellular materials offer unique advantages over traditional materials. High-density cellular plastics are widely used in furniture, transportation and building products while low-density foams find use in shock absorption, insulation and rigid packaging. The global polymeric foams market is projected to reach 20.5 million metric tons by 2010, at an average annual growth rate of more than 3.5% during 2000-2010. Asia-Pacific, the largest and the fastest growing foam market is projected to cross 6.5 mln tons by 2010, at a CAGR of more than 4% over the 2000-2010 period.

China, with an annual growth of about 7% in demand for PS foam, accounts for around 20% of the worldwide polystyrene consumption. In the construction industry, foam plastics hold immense potential for enhancing consumer properties and improving the efficacies of production techniques. The share of North America and Europe of the total consumption of foamed polystyrene is characterized by a marked downward trend. The global demand for this product rises by 5.2% pa. China accounts for 60% of the regional consumption of polystyrene and about 20% of global polystyrene consumption. Foam plastics make up the second major group of insulating materials. They include the following products: polystyrene foam, polyurethane and polyisocyanate foams, phenol-formaldehyde and carbamide-formaldehyde foam plastics. Foam plastic production volumes have been growing thanks to the changes in the requirements for the thermal resistance of building envelopes. Construction foam plastics are characterised by the greatest potential for improving consumer properties and making their production technologies more efficient, thus leading to new applications in this sector. In the recent years, polystyrene foam has been actively used for outdoor advertising purposes. Major polystyrene foam manufacturers include the USA, Germany, France, Japan, which account for over 60% of global production. Polystyrene foam has been on the market for about 50 years. Since that time, its market has been steadily growing.

PU foam markets, with an estimated share of about 55% for 2007, constitute the largest product segment in the global polymeric foams market. The segment is also expected to register the fastest CAGR of about 4% over the period 2000-2010. Demand for polyolefin foams is driven primarily by increasing use of cross-linked PE (XLPE) in emerging applications such as sports and leisure goods. New and fast growing markets for polymer foams are emerging such as foamed PVC for windows/doors, house siding and construction shapes. Polymers are foamed for performance and cost advantages. Foamed plastics are less heavy than non-foamed items generated from the same resin and hence require less resin. Public perception and environmental issues have mainly driven these markets and have brought about many changes. Environmental issues include recycling and solid waste disposal, an ongoing political and public issue since the 1990s, and issues regarding consumer safety, varying from flammability and fire resistance to apprehension regarding the application of plastics.
The global polymer foam industry has shown steady progress in the past few years with innovations in technology and applications. The inherent foam characteristics include insulation, energy conservation, sound attenuation, shock absorption, light weight and material savings. Cellular materials can offer a wide range of properties. Foam technology covers a range of techniques including microcellular foams in injection molding and extrusion, bead foam, and crosslinked polyolefin foam, and the design of screw, mold, die, and blowing agent injection continue to improve. As a result, uniform fine-celled polymeric foam products have been produced to meet demanding performance requirements.
Protective packaging is a big market for foams and constantly developing. Nova Chemicals Corporation has manufactured food grade microwaveable foams from styrene maleic anhydride copolymers. Huntsman has new expanded polystyrene (EPS) technology with 0.4-1.6 mm beads developed with a low rate of pentane blowing agent inclusion (3-7%). Molders expand the beads for applications ranging from packaging to roofing insulation. All industries are concerned to reduce environmental impact. Efforts are being made to reduce VOC emissions in foaming. There are environmentally-friendly blowing agents such as the new development by Adeka Palmarole for food packaging and many foams are now water-blown. Foams have been produced using the latest polymeric materials including nanocomposites, wood composites and biodegradable polymers such as PLA giving sustainable products.