Any non-food powder or liquid (excluding certain ingredients) can be vaguely termed a ‘chemical’, which gives an idea of how vast the concept and the number of substances classified as chemicals are. So, wherever there is industry, some or the other chemical would be in use. In turn, chemicals that are formulated for a specific purpose are generally called specialty chemicals. The concept includes agrochemicals, specialty coatings, construction chemicals, surfactants, polymer additives, food additives, electronic chemicals, plastic additives, cleaning chemicals, paper & textile chemicals, lubricant & oilfield chemicals, adhesives & sealants, advanced ceramic materials, water treatment chemicals, rubber processing chemicals, and mining chemicals.
P&S Intelligence considers such a wide application area of such products as the key factor that will drive the specialty chemicals market size to $980,423.7 million by 2030 from $639,935.8 million in 2019, at a 5.5% CAGR during 2020–2030 (forecast period). Even within specific industries, these chemicals have a wide range of applications. For instance, a large quantity of paper chemicals is consumed for packaging, printing, and labeling purposes. Overall, agrochemicals account for the heaviest consumption due to the booming population, which continues to push up the demand for food.
Agrochemicals include pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, organic and inorganic fertilizers, adjuvants, micronutrients, soil conditioners, and acidifying and liming agents. With the global population set to reach almost 11 billion by 2100 from 7.7 billion in 2019, as per the United Nations (UN)’s World Population Prospects 2019 report, the demand for agrochemicals is only going to increase. With the population boom, apart from the rising demand for food, cities are expanding, which is leading to a reduction in the arable land area. As a result, the usage of agrochemicals to obtain as much as possible from as little land as available is growing.
Furthermore, the region offers cheap labor and raw materials, and the environmental regulations are also less severe here than in Europe and North America. As a result, chemical companies from the Western world are increasingly shifting their manufacturing base to Asian countries, such as China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. This is leading to the high-volume availability of a range of specialty chemicals in the region at low prices, which is further driving their sales.
The specialty chemicals market has a fragmented nature, and its competitive landscape is characterized by an array of strategic measures, such as mergers, acquisitions, facility expansions, extensive research and development (R&D), product launches, partnerships, agreements, and collaborations. Key players in the market are Evonik Industries AG, Eastman Chemical Company, Ashland Global Holdings Inc., Akzo Nobel N.V., LOTTE Fine Chemical Co. Ltd., Mitsui Chemicals Inc., BASF SE, Huntsman Corporation, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Clariant International Ltd., Dow Inc., China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, Sadara Chemical Company, AECI Ltd., Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, and Thebe Unico.
Therefore, the burgeoning population will keep driving the consumption of a wide variety of specialty chemicals across an equally wide variety of industries.