Polyacetal (POM) Global Market Overview

POM Global Demand-Supply & Forecast

Global POM Demand in 2018 was estimated to be about 1304 kilotons which has grown at an aggregate rate of 4.5% per annum between 2005 and 2018. Global demand is expected to grow to nearly 1526 kilo tons by 2025. Prismane Consulting estimates the growth rate to be around 3.7% during the long-term forecast till 2030. Utilization rates for POM globally averaged nearly at about 73% between 2005 and 2018. The utilization rates peaked to 87% in 2007 before declining to 70% in 2009 mainly due to a decline in demand as well as a result of new production capacities coming on-stream. The demand for POM was affected in 2008-2009 with the market contracting by an average of 5.3%, however, the demand recovered steadily after that and reached its pre-recession level by 2010. In 2010, global demand exhibited strong growth, resulting in an improvement in the global utilization rate to 76%.

In our long term forecast to 2030, we expect utilization rates to remain around mid-70s as about more than 500 kilo tons of POM capacity comes on stream and demand continues to gradually increase. We are predicting the global utilization rate to improve such that, by 2030, it will reach 79% as demand growth begins to gradually catch up with the small capacity additions including speculative still2030. The Asian region is likely to witness most capacity addition where we envisage almost all capacity additions in China and to an extent in India. Similarly, we also anticipate around 20 kilotons of additional capacity in Germany by 2025.

Key demand drivers for POM have been their application in automotive applications especially, interior applications, electrical & electronics, industrial, and consumer& home appliances. In 2018, automotive applications constituted the largest demand for POM accounting for nearly 31% of the total demand followed by electrical & electronics applications accounting for around 24% of the total demand. Industrial uses accounted for 14% while consumer & home appliances constituted for 17% of the demand. Semi-finished products accounted for almost 5.2% of the demand and all other applications, food contact, medical devices, sporting goods, and others constituted about 2-3%each of the total demand.

Global Polyacetal (POM) Market Model (2005 - 2030)