Chemical blowing agents, used to develop microcellular structure as well as reducing density, and in turn, weight and density of the finished product, is poised to grow at a healthy rate. Townsend predicts the average growth of chemical blowing agent at 5.5% from 2005 to 2010. Chemical blowing agents or foaming agents provide nucleation effect in polymers particularly when used along with physical blowing agents such as pentane or other hydrocarbons. Chemical blowing agents also reduce melt viscosity improving melt flow and provide lubrication effect. Both these attributes contribute to faster cycle time. Stearates usually interfere with blowing mechanism and reduce the efficiency. To enhance blowing, chemicals called kickers are usually incorporated.

Of the total 159,000 tons of chemical blowing agents consumed globally: Azocarbonamide is the workhorse of the chemical blowing agents and has a share of almost 88%. Exothermic chemical blowing agents thus are the largest in terms of consumption because they are cheaper and can be used in the common applications. They also provide maximum reduction in density compared to endothermic chemical blowing agents.
Endothermic chemical blowing agent responsible to provide very fine, small and uniform cellular structure in most of the polymers has 5% share of the total business. Endothermic chemical blowing agents are most expensive amongst all the chemical blowing agents.
All the other types of the chemical blowing agents comprise the remaining 7%.
Exothermic chemical blowing agents usually have less controlled cellular growth as the cells produced are diverse in terms of size. Endothermic chemical blowing agents on the other hand provides very controlled and finer cellular structure. The finer cellular structure gives smooth surface while the coarser cellular structure generally provides less smooth surface.
Polymer structure plays an important role in blowing. The amorphous polymers compared to crystalline ones blow easily. The polymers with branched structure improve melt strength and are very easy for blowing.

Asia has several small producers leading in global production. Dongjin Semichem Company Ltd. from Korea, Otsuka Chemical Company Ltd. and Eiwac Chemical Company Ltd. both from Japan are the top three large global suppliers. Lanxess from Germany is the fourth largest producer. Chemtura is the largest producer in North America . High Polymer Labs from India is also a reasonably large producer.

China is the leading consumer accounting for 46% of the global consumption in 2005. Other Asian countries accounted for 23% of the global consumption in 2005. Thus, Asia alone accounted for 69% of the total global consumption in 2005. Demand in China is expected to grow by 8% from 2005 to 2010, while combined demand in all other regions, is expected to grow between 2-4% from 2005 to 2010. Demand in Europe is being negatively affected due to pressure from environmentalists to replace AZDC with endothermic chemical blowing agents in food applications.