The report pointed out that the main application markets for fillers include: paper, plastics, paints & varnishes, elastomers, adhesives & sealants, etc. There are significant differences between different regions in different application markets: In Western Europe, market share of fillers in the paper industry accounted for The total market share of all applications is 31%, but Asia's share is less than 19%. In Asia, elastomer product manufacturers hold about 32% of the filler market, while in Western Europe this proportion is 22%.
High fill material
In 2016, the most important consumer market for fillers was in the elastomer sector, which accounted for 28% of the total global consumption of fillers. Ceresana believes that the percentage of fillers used in this area is expected to increase steadily in the next few years. Plastics are the second largest worldwide application of fillers. The market demand is expected to grow to about 22 million tons by 2024. Based on the more updated application requirements of engineering plastics and composite materials, higher requirements are also put on the performance of the filler. For example, automotive engineering needs to use fillers to reduce the weight of the vehicle body. At the same time, the stability of the plastic parts should also be ensured. In addition, the production of highly filled composite materials with customizable properties continues to increase: these plastics have a filler content of up to 85%, provide excellent mechanical properties, and generally More cost-effective than traditional materials.
Heavy calcium carbonate and carbon black dominate the filler market
With a market share of 34%, heavy calcium carbonate (GCC) has become the most widely used product in the global filler market. Over the past eight years, GCC's global demand has grown at an average annual rate of 2.7%. In 2016, Asia Pacific market consumption accounted for global 50% of total consumption. Ceresana expects that the average annual growth rate in the next few years (to 2024) will be around 2.5%. The largest consumer segment of GCC is in the plastics industry, which is expected to continue to improve in the future. The paint & varnish industry is the second largest, Papermaking followed.
Carbon black is the second-highest application filler, and the market demand is 11.7 million tons. The main application area of carbon black is the rubber industry. It is a kind of reinforcing filler and can significantly improve the wear resistance of rubber tires.
Precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is the third largest class of fillers. Many properties are similar to those of GCC. They are mainly used in paper production, followed by the paint & varnish industry.