Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP) Market

With increasing demand in a wide range of industrial applications such as disposable incontinence products, artificial snow, and self-compacting cement pastes, the global market for super absorbent polymers is expected to witness positive growth in the coming years. End users across various industries are triggering demand for absorption gels or hydrogels in diverse applications, and this is creating lucrative opportunities for market players to introduce end-use specific properties of their water absorbing polymers products.

In the coming years, sales of disposable absorbent polymers is expected to increase in hygiene products and personal care products, liquid absorbing polymers are the integral component. Leading market players are expected to capitalize on this trend by introducing thinner and more comfortable super soakers to gain a competitive edge in the super absorbent polymer market.

This Future Market Insights report examines the ‘Global Super Absorbent Polymer’ market for the period 2012-2020. The primary objective of the report is to offer updates on the advancement of super absorbent polymer, examining the marketing efforts and business strategies undertaken by the manufacturing companies which is significantly transforming the super absorbent polymer market place. This study analyses, estimates and forecasts the global super absorbent polymer market from the demand as well as supply perspective, in terms of volume (Mn Tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) during the forecast period 2015 to 2020. The report also highlights the impact of various drives and restraints in different regions along with their impact during the forecast period.

The report starts with an overview of super absorbent polymer and is categorically split on the basis of product type, application and geographies. Furthermore, FMI covers the global super absorbent polymer market performance in terms of volume based on each product type. This section additionally includes FMI’s analyses of the key trends, drivers and restraints from the supply and demand side, which are influencing the global super absorbent polymer market. Impact analysis of key growth drivers and restraints, based on the weighted average model is included in the global super absorbent polymer report to better equip and arm clients with crystal clear decision-making insights.

Super absorbent polymer is used in the manufacturing of baby diapers and later its scope got expanded in many other applications such as adult incontinence products, feminine hygiene products, agriculture products and many more owing to its characteristics features such as high water absorption and retention capacity. Due to these reasons, super absorbent polymer products are expected to have a significant demand in the near future. Many technological advancements and tests have also been performed over super absorbent polymer during the years. These have resulted in more efficient permeability and gel conductivity for the polymer.

There are two major types of super absorbent polymer product which have been covered in this report:  sodium polyacrylate and polyacrylamide co-polymer. Some others include Ethylene-maleic anhydride co-polymer, polyvinyl alcohol co-polymer, and starch grafted polymers.These product type are used in the manufacture of diapers and other hygienic products.  Moreover, with 63.8% global super absorbent polymer volume share, sodium polyacrylate was the largest product segment for super absorbent polymer market in 2014. Due to characteristic features of polyacrylamide co-polymer such as its nontoxic nature and high water absorbency capacity, it is expected to grow at a comparatively higher CAGR of 5.6%, during the forecast period, 2015 and 2020. The demand for polyacrylamide co-polymer is expected to be driven chiefly by strong demand from the agriculture, construction and waste material treatment industry.

Considering the application aspects of super absorbent polymer, the disposable diapers industry accounted for the largest market share with 74.3% of the global super absorbent polymer value share in 2014. Moreover, it is also anticipated to grow at a significant CAGR owing to increasing demand for baby diapers chiefly from developing countries coupled with increase in the population of infants globally. Countries such as China, India, Indonesia and many other developing nations are driving the growth for the baby diapers in the Asia Pacific and Latin America region. The global super absorbent polymer disposable diapers industry accounted for US$ 5,320.8 Mn in 2014, and is anticipated to reach a value of US$ 7,770.3 Mn by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 4.0% during the forecast period. This depicts the demand for disposable diapers, which is further likely to boost the demand for super absorbent polymer in the market in the coming years. This section analysis each segment in terms of value and volume.

The report also segments the super absorbent polymer market based on the key geographies including North America, Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America. The report provides market revenue and volume for each application segment under each geographical segment. Also the report discusses the key regional drivers contributing to growth of the global super absorbent polymer market on a worldwide basis, as well as analyses the degree at which global drivers are influencing this market in each region.

All the global super absorbent polymer in terms of regions, application and product type are analysed in terms of Basis Point Share to understand individual segments relative contributions to market growth. This detailed level of information is important for the identification of various key trends of the global super absorbent polymer market.

All the above sections, by product type, by application and by geography evaluate the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global super absorbent polymer market for the period 2015 to 2020. Given the characteristics of the market, we triangulated the outcome of three different types of analyses, based on supply side, consumer spending and economic envelope. In addition, it is imperative to note that in an ever-fluctuating global economy, we not only conduct forecasts in terms of CAGR, but also analyse on the basis of key parameters such as year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth to understand the predictability of the market and to identify the right opportunities across the global super absorbent polymer market.

Also, another key feature of this report is the analysis of all key manufactures of super absorbent polymer globally, regional adaption and revenue forecast in terms of absolute dollar. This is traditionally overlooked while forecasting the market. However, absolute dollar opportunity is critical in assessing the level of opportunity that a provider can look to achieve, as well as to identify potential resources from a sales and delivery perspective, as well as the manufacturers and distributors perspective in the global super absorbent polymer market.

Furthermore, to understand key growth segments in terms of growth & adoption of global super absorbent polymer segments and regions, Future Market Insights developed the global super absorbent polymer Market Attractiveness Index on the bases of product type, application and geography. The resulting index should help providers identify real market opportunities.

In the final section of the report, global super absorbent polymer Competitive landscape is included to provide report audiences with a Dashboard view, based on various segments, presence in super absorbent polymer market and key differentiators. This section is primarily designed to provide clients with an objective & detailed comparative assessment of key providers specific to a market segment in the global super absorbent polymer value chain. Report audiences can gain segment-specific vendor insights to identify and evaluate key competitors based on in-depth assessment of capabilities and success in the global super absorbent polymer marketplace. Detailed profiles of the manufactures are also included in the scope of the report to evaluate their operations, expansions, products and sales channel strategies along with the SWOT analysis for each manufacture. Key Competitors are Nippon Shokubai Co. Ltd., Evonik Industries AG, BASF SE, San-Dia Polymers, Formosa Plastics Corporation, Sumitomo Seika Chemicals Co. Ltd., Yixing Danson Technology, Kao Corporation, Sanyo Chemicals Industries and LG Chemicals Ltd.