Freedonia Releases Report on Silicone Market Growth

Cleveland, Ohio-based market research group Freedonia has released a report that forecasts demand for silicones in the United States to exceed $4 billion by 2016. Freedonia claims renewed economic growth, rising manufacturing output, and rebounding construction activity will cause a climb in demand of 5.6 percent annually, with advances accelerating strongly from the pace of the recession-impacted 2006-2011 period. In terms of volume, silicone demand is projected to rise at 4.8 percent per year, amounting to 890 million pounds in 2016.

Out of all plastics, silicone fluids and elastomers were the highest in demand in 2011, with each new silicone product accounting for 40 percent of the total. Silicone fluids will not be the meat of this projected growth, according to Freedonia. It will be silicone elastomers and resins that will most benefit from the rebounding construction market.

Silicone gels, though a small market, represent an important product segment. Demand for these materials will rise from the increasing utilization of silicone gel encapsulants in the fast growing photovoltaic and light emitting diode (LED) sectors of the electronics market. Moreover, silicone gel-filled breast implants—which were reintroduced to the market in 2006 after a 14-year ban—will continue to steal market share from their saline-filled counterparts.

Among other markets, medical products are predicted to achieve the most rapid growth. The medical market has been the fastest growing segment of the silicone industry in recent years, and will continue to expand strongly, according to the report.