Driven by sustained recovery in tire, non-tire rubber, and industrial markets, global demand for precipitated silica rose nearly 15% in the first half of 2010 compared to the first half of 2009. Global demand excluding China rose more than 21% in 1H 2010 compared to the same period of 2009. Notch forecasts that full year demand in 2010 will grow 11% over 2009, or more than 14% if China is excluded from the data. Suppliers are expanding capacity to meet new demand, including major recent projects by Huber and Rhodia in China, while Evonik Industries recently announced plans to expand its global silica capacity by 25% through 2014.
These projections are included in the new issue of the Silica Market Update, which is a bi-annual report on the global precipitated silica industry. The new report is 39 pages, with 16 tables. As always, the report comes with a separate spreadsheet providing substantial supplemental data.
Among the noteworthy additions to this report are:
Global market share by company in dollars, including breakouts by region and product segment,
The latest information on expansions, shut-downs, and restructuring
Global capacity by company and plant
In addition, the new Silica Market Update includes a special report on precipitated silica in green (i.e., fuel-efficient) tires, which consists of the following sections:
A comparison of the relative advantages and disadvantages of carbon black and silica as reinforcing fillers in rubber;
A price comparison between carbon black and silica/silane fillers systems;
A comparison of carbon black and highly dispersible precipitated silica volumes in head-to-head competition (i.e., passenger tire treads) by region (North America, European Union, China, Other Asia, and Other Regions);
An overview of recent green tire product introductions; and
An overview of recent legislation affecting future demand for green tires.
To order the report or for more information, contact Notch Consulting at info@notchconsulting.com.