Global Medical Plastics Market Growth Opportunities

Global Medical Plastics Market Growth Opportunities


Increasing Healthcare Expenditure Enhances Future Growth Potential in Developing Economies

Medical plastics are largely used across the healthcare sector for manufacturing diagnostic and therapeutic medical devices, equipment, surgical/non-surgical instruments, labware, prosthetics, implants, and healthcare packaging products. These offer various advantages over conventional materials such as metals, paper, and glass, including light weight, transparency, enhanced elasticity, and cost-effectiveness. In this context, the market offers many growth opportunities for resin producers, feedstock suppliers, compounders/converters, and end consumers (considering vertical expansion in the market).

The global medical plastics market will grow in tandem with the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. The increasing healthcare expenditure and healthcare infrastructure upgrade initiatives across countries are largely driving the demand for medical supplies and are expected to drive the growth of the medical plastics market, predominantly in the Middle East, ASEAN countries, and India. The rising prominence of outpatient facilities, mobile units, and home-based healthcare increases the demand for portable and easy-to-use medical devices. These trends further influence the adoption of medical plastics.

Accounting for a significant proportion of the market, commodity thermoplastics (CTP) are much preferred across numerous medical applications mostly due to their low costs, performance benefits, and broader availability. Mainly employed in packaging, these are used in the mass manufacturing of products such as medical bottles, containers, prefilled syringes, caps and closures, blister packaging, blood bags, and other pharma and medical packaging products. The medical plastics market in the Americas is highly mature owing to the significant consumption of CTP for manufacturing various medical products.

From an application standpoint, medical devices, equipment, and instruments are largely manufactured using plastic components due to trends such as lightweighting and miniaturization. The increasing switch from traditional surgical techniques to minimally invasive surgical techniques compels OEMs to develop plastic-based, single-use, sterile surgical instruments. Polycarbonate, among other engineering thermoplastics, is widely used for such applications. Additionally, the increasing demand for diagnostics, recently boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic, further propels the demand for plastics in the medical devices, equipment, and instruments segment.

The medical plastics market is highly fragmented, with the presence of global players and several regional and local manufacturers. Manufacturers fundamentally compete based on price and material quality. Regulations also play an important role in material development owing to the critical nature of its downstream applications. Price-sensitive countries like India and ASEAN countries are witnessing a strategic increase in medical supply manufacturing and are expected to attract material manufacturers. Moreover, the developed markets of North America and Europe are largely focusing on high-quality plastics, defining medical/regulated grade plastic, and are therefore expected to see a rising demand for premium products complementing revenue growth. While plastics in medical applications offer relatively more lucrative profit margins than other applications, numerous players continue to cater the healthcare OEMs.


  • Strategic Imperatives
    • Why is it Increasingly Difficult to Grow?
    • The Strategic Imperative 8
    • The Impact of the Top 3 Strategic Imperatives on the Medical Plastics Industry
    • Growth Opportunities Fuel the Growth Pipeline Engine
  • Growth Opportunity Analysis
    • Scope of Analysis
    • Segmentation
    • Geographic Scope
    • Key Competitors
    • Growth Metrics
    • Value Chain
    • Value Chain Analysis
    • Circular Economy
    • Growth Drivers
    • Growth Driver Analysis
    • Growth Restraints
    • Growth Restraints Analysis
    • Graphical Summary of Drivers and Restraints for the Medical Plastics Market
    • Forecast Assumptions
    • Revenue and Volume Forecast
    • Revenue and Volume Forecast Analysis
    • Revenue Forecast by Plastic Types
      • Table Medical Plastics Market: Revenue Forecast by Plastic Types, Global, 2019-2029
    • Volume Forecast by Plastic Types
      • Table Medical Plastics Market: Volume Forecast by Plastic Types, Global, 2019-2029
    • Revenue and Volume Forecast Analysis by Plastic Type
    • Pricing Trends and Forecast
    • Pricing Trends and Forecast by Plastic Types
    • Pricing Trends and Forecast Analysis
    • Revenue Forecast by End Products
      • Table Medical Plastics Market: Revenue Forecast by End Products, Global, 2019-2029
    • Volume Forecast by End Products
      • Table Medical Plastics Market: Volume Forecast by End Products, Global, 2019-2029
    • Revenue Forecast by Region
      • Table Medical Plastics Market: Revenue Forecast by Region, 2019-2029
    • Volume Forecast by Region
      • Table Medical Plastics Market: Volume Forecast by Region, 2019-2029
    • Revenue and Volume Forecast Analysis by End Product
    • Competitive Environment
    • Revenue Share
    • Revenue Share by Plastic Types
    • Revenue Share Analysis
  • Growth Opportunity Analysis- Commodity Thermoplastics (CTP)
    • Segment Characteristics and Overview
    • Growth Metrics
    • Revenue and Volume Forecast
    • Forecast Analysis
    • Revenue Forecast by End Products
      • Table CTP: Revenue Forecast by End Products, Global, 2019-2029
    • Volume Forecast by End Products
      • Table CTP: Volume Forecast by End Products, Global, 2019-2029
    • Forecast Analysis by End Product
    • Revenue Forecast by Region
      • Table CTP: Revenue Forecast by Region, 2019-2029
    • Volume Forecast by Region
      • Table CTP: Volume Forecast by Region, 2019-2029
    • Forecast Analysis by Region
  • Growth Opportunity Analysis- Engineering Thermoplastics (ETP)
    • Segment Characteristics and Overview
    • Growth Metrics
    • Revenue and Volume Forecast
    • Forecast Analysis
    • Revenue Forecast by End Products
      • Table ETP: Revenue Forecast by End Products, Global, 2019-2029
    • Volume Forecast by End Products
      • Table ETP: Volume Forecast by End Products, Global, 2019-2029
    • Forecast Analysis by End Product
    • Revenue Forecast by Region
      • Table ETP: Revenue Forecast by Region, 2019-2029
    • Volume Forecast by Region
      • Table ETP: Volume Forecast by Region, 2019-2029
    • Forecast Analysis by Region
  • Growth Opportunity Analysis- Other Thermoplastics
    • Segment Characteristics and Overview
    • Key Growth Metrics for Other Plastics
    • Revenue and Volume Forecast
    • Revenue and Volume Forecast Analysis
    • Revenue Forecast by End Products
      • Table Other Plastics: Revenue Forecast by End Products, Global, 2019-2029
    • Volume Forecast by End Products
      • Table Other Plastics: Volume Forecast by End Products, Global, 2019-2029
    • Forecast Analysis by End Product
    • Revenue Forecast by Region
      • Table Other Plastics: Revenue Forecast by Region, 2019-2029
    • Volume Forecast by Region
      • Table Other Plastics: Volume Forecast by Region, 2019-2029
    • Forecast Analysis by Region
  • Growth Opportunity Universe
    • Growth Opportunity 1: OEMs Are Redesigning Medical Devices to Cater to the Changing End-user Base
    • Growth Opportunity 2: Investment Opportunities in India and ASEAN Countries
    • Growth Opportunity 3: Sustainable Materials Improve Product Visibility and Demand a Premium Price
    • Growth Opportunity 4: Promoting Plastic Alternatives for PVC
  • Next Steps
    • Your Next Steps
    • Why Frost, Why Now?

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