Biocides Market Analysis & Opportunity Assessment, 2014 - 2020

Biocides are chemicals or certain metals used for killingvarious categories of microorganisms at different stages in their life cycle. Major applications of biocides are in drinking and wastewater treatment, healthcare, and in the consumer goods industry.Consumer goods products include cosmetics, cleaning products, detergents, some toothpaste, and general disinfectant products. In addition, biocides are also used in the food industry at sublethal levels to act as preservatives to provide a longer shelf life for food products.

The biocide market can be segmented by type as metallic compounds, halogen-based derivatives, organic acids, organ-sulfurs, and phenol-based compounds. Halogen compounds are the most commonlyused biocides in many industries followed by organic acids.Greater concern for better public health would drive the demand for disinfectant biocides in hospitals, railway stations, retail outlets, and other public places.

Several government and environmental regulations are imposed at different levels of the value chain in the biocide market, i.e., right from manufacturers to distributors, which act as an entry barrier for new entrants.Countries have numerous laws regarding labeling and storing biocide products and leftovers. Therefore, the market for biocides is expected to grow at a moderate CAGR over the next six years.

Geographically, North America dominates the biocide market. However,future demands for biocides are likely to come from emerging economies such as India, China, South Africa, Indonesia, and Vietnam.Some of the major players of biocides include Lonza Group, Dow Microbial Control, Ashland Inc., Champion Technologies, BASF SE, Troy Corporation, and Thor Specialties, Inc.