Bio-based Polyurethane Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Bio-based Polyurethane Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The market for bio-based polyurethane was valued at around 7.15 kilotons in 2020 and is expected to register a CAGR of more than 14.5% during the forecast period, 2021-2026.

The market was negatively affected by COVID-19 in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic majorly affected countries across the region, as the countries focused on flattening the curve of the infection, resulting in severe lockdowns, confining millions of people in their homes, and shutting down businesses, production, and manufacturing facilities resulting in no economic activity.​ Construction industries gained nothing but losses, which left an impact on the world economy. It further disrupted the transportation system, which rippled its way into the supply of materials. Many construction companies went through a financial recession, resulting in companies laying off a lot of their workers. Overall, the construction industry was significantly impacted during the pandemic period, which affected the demand for the market studied. ​

Key Highlights

• Over the mid-term the key factors driving the market studied are increasing demand from construction industry in developing countries and increasing demand from electronic appliances manufacturing.
• On the flipside, unfavorable conditions ariing due to COVID-19 outbreak is expected to hinder the growth of the market studied.
• Industrial growth in Middle-East and Africa is expected to act as an opportunity in the forecast period.

Key Market TrendsIncreasing Demand from the Transportation Industry

• Bio-based polyurethane finds its one of the key applications in the transportation industry, including, automotive, railway, and aerospace industry. Moreover, the automotive industry consumes bio-based PU foams, coatings, as well as adhesives and sealants. Specifically, bio-based PU foams are used in interior parts, seating systems (headrests, headliners, armrests, seat cushioning, and others), noise, vibration, harshness (NVH) foams, and RIM auto fascia, and trim covers, among others. Additionally, these seat cushions are based on flexible bio-based PU foams, while rigid PU foams can be used as side insulation to enhance impact resistance.
• Furthermore, bio-based PU coatings are used for coating automotive plastic, and other substrates, owing to their outstanding adhesion and chemical resistance. Additionally, to make lightweight electric cars and fuel-efficient conventional vehicles, bio-based PU coatings are used in vehicles interior, where these are used for finishing automotive leather and synthetic surfaces, such as car seats, steering wheels, dashboards, door trims, or consoles. This solution also cut down greenhouse gas emissions from cars. These are majorly water-based coatings, thereby, helps in the reduction of VOCs.
• Moreover, bio-based PU adhesives and sealants are majorly used for assembly of automotive interiors, bonding of windshield, and other automotive applications.
• In the railway industry, bio-based PU has potential application, as it can replace conventional PU products by a significant amount in the coming years. In railways, bio-based foams can be used in seat cushioning and for thermal insulation applications.
• Furthermore, in the aerospace industry, bio-based PU foams and coatings can substitute conventional PU materials. Here, PU foams are being used in manufacturing seats, and water-borne coatings are employed in airplanes.
• For instance, according to the Organization Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles (OICA), the automobile industry has registered a negative growth of ~5% in 2019, and the production has declined from 96.87 million units produced in 2018 to only 92.18 million units in 2019. ​After bleak 2019, world automotive production faced a new, unprecedented challenge during 2020. In 2020, the COVID-19 worse impacted the automobile sector with lockdown implemented across all countries, which has resulted in an automotive production halt. According to OICA, in 2020, the global automotive production (all vehicles) witnessed a decline of about ~15.8% Y-o-Y over the same time period in 2019, reaching a total of 77.62 million vehicles. Moreover, in the first half of 2021, automobile production reached 40.34 million units, increasing by 29% from the same period in 2020 (H1). This is expected to augment the demand for the market studied in 2021.
• Furthermore, in the electric vehicles segment, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 2030, the global electric vehicle sales are expected to reach 125 million, as per the New Policies Scenario (excluding two/three-wheelers). In the EV30@30 Scenario, in 2030, around 70% of the vehicle sales in China are expected to be EVs. Also, half of the vehicles sold in Europe, 37% in Japan, 30% in Canada and the United States, and 29% in India are EVs. Thereby, the rising sales scenario of EVs in the coming years is likely to enhance the demand for bio-based polyurethane foams, adhesives, and coatings.
• Therefore, the demand of the transportationn industry is expected to increase the demand of the bio-based polyurethane in the forecast period.

Asia-Pacific to Dominate the Market

• Asia Pacific is the largest producer of bio-based polyurethane with high abundance of synthetic di isocyanates and large number of bio-based polyurethane in the region.
• China has become the largest construction market in the world. In 2020, the construction industry value ed around USD 1.049 trillion dollars, the country has majorly focused on improving infrastructure in small, medium sized cities. The construction industry in the country is expected to maintain a steady growth with a forecasted CAGR of 5%.
• The emerging construction markets, such as India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam are coming up with PPPs and construction projects.
• These countries are seeking to bring in international firms with relevant technical expertise in the construction industry, which is to drive the market for a bio-based polyurethane market in the region.
• In Indonesia, millennials account for more than 50% of the productive population. With the increasing young population in the country, the housing demand has also been increasing simultaneously. In order to cater to the increasing demand for affordable houses, the construction of housing units has been increasing for the past couple of years.
• In India, offices and residential spaces has been driving the growth of the construction sector. In 2020 the office space occupancy stood at around 15 million square feet, which is in the lower end of the global office space occupancy average, this shows a greater potential in the growth of the office construction in the country.
• India is currently the second-highest consumer and producer of footwear in the world. The country is currently producing around 9% of the global annual production of footwear. The footwear sector in India is one of the largest in the region behind China. Moreover, most Indian footwear manufactured (about 90%) is fulfilled to meet the local demand. The Indian footwear industry is estimated to grow at 4.5% in the coming years. Under the sports footwear category, running shoes are the most consumed category with a 1.5X spike compared to the previous year. Bata, one of the leading footwear brands in the country, has set out a plan to open new 500 franchise stores by 2023.
• Furthermore, in the furniture industry, PU foams are used to create the soft cores of sofas and other upholstered household furniture, commercial/institutional furniture, such as office chairs and sofas, and seating for theaters and stadiums. The demand of furniture industry is increasing the region.
• Aforementioned factors are likely to increase the demand of bio-based polyurethane in the forecast period.

Competitive Landscape

The global bio-based polyurethane market is consolidated in nature. The major manufacturers of the market studied include BASF SE, Covestro AG, Huntsman International LLC, Mitsui Chemicals Inc., The Lubrizol Corporation, among others.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned

IBM Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Internap Corporation
Packet Inc. (An Equinix Inc. Company)
Scaleway Inc.
Amazon Web Services Inc
Rackspace Inc.
CenturyLink, Inc.
LightEdge Solutions, Inc

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