The global market for fillers is expected to rise to approx. US$27.7 billion in 2021. In 2013, Asia Pacific was the largest sales market for fillers worldwide, accounting for 48% of total demand, followed by Western Europe and North America. As fillers can be used in manifold applications in various industrial sectors, the development of the market for fillers largely follows the macroeconomic development of a country. As such, the sales markets for fillers in China and India are developing very rapidly. China single-handedly increased demand by almost 1 million tonnes/year, which is likely to result in Asia Pacific accounting for more than half of total global output of fillers by 2016. Western Europe and North America are likely to keep losing market shares; however, losses will not be as high as in the previous eight-year period as demand has been increasing again since 2010 and will continue to grow at moderate rates in the next couple of years.

The use of fillers reduces the costs of many products. Also, they often improve them. They influence rigidity, weatherability, electrical conductivity, and other characteristics of the final product. Without fillers, a variety of plastics would not be suitable for exigent applications, says Constance-based market research institute Ceresana that has published the 3rd edition of its market report on fillers.

The two most important applications for fillers are the processing of plastics and elastomers. A tendency to utilise highly filled compounds, containing up to 85% of fillers, becomes apparent. The utilisation of nanofillers is another interesting possibility to increase the share of fillers in a product and to drastically improve the product's characteristics at the same time. Manufacturers of paper ranked third, followed by the segment paints and varnishes. The smallest of the applications analysed individually is the manufacturing of adhesives and sealants.

The most commonly used filler on the global market is ground calcium carbonate (GCC), followed by precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) and carbon black. Other fillers used in significant quantities are kaolin and talc. All other types of fillers reached an aggregated market share of only 9%. Demand for almost all types will increase rather steadily, with the highest growth rates of more than 3% p.a. being forecast for carbon black and talc. The use of carbon black as filler in the tyre industry in particular will continue to increase considerably, due to the massive expansion of the automotive industries in China and India.

More information is available at: http://www.ceresana.com/en/market-studies/additives/fillers/