Source: www.pnchina.com

Engineering plastics could be used as engineering materials or replacements for plastic parts used in metal-manufacturing machineries. It has excellent overall performance, high rigidity, low creep, strong mechanical strength, good electrical and heat resistance, allowing it to be used prolongedly in harsh physical and chemical environments, it could also replace metal as engineering material. But the downside is that the price is high and production is low.

The global engineering plastics market includes the product types as follows: Polyamide (PA), polycarbonate (PC), polyoxymethylene (POM), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (abs) and styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN), high performance polymers, fluoropolymers, polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), and others including UHMWPE / UHMW, TPI alloys and mixtures.

Application sectors include: automotive and transportation, electric and electronics, construction, medical, industrial and mechanical, packaging, and others (such as furniture, sporting goods, leisure products, etc.). As the global demand for above sectors continue to rise, it is expected that the high-performance plastics sector would grow the fastest among various engineering plastics.

According to the latest report, it is expected that within the years 2016 to 2026, engineering plastics would be the fastest growing sector within the plastics industry. From the market valuation perspective, the global market value of engineering plastics is estimated to be 66.2 billion US dollars towards the end of 2016, while reaching 132.8 billion by the end of 2026, with a compound growth of 7.2%. Within the same time frame, global consumption would see a compound growth of 5.7%.

As of the end of 2016, the value of the engineering plastics market within APEJ (Asia/Pacific Excluding Japan) is about 27.1 billion US dollars, estimated to reach 61.7 billion by the end of 2026. The annual compound growth rate is 8.6% within the forecast period. It is estimated that by the end of 2026, APEJ market would be the leading engineering plastics market globally, accounting for 40.98% of the market sector. This is due to the increase in demand of end-user industries, such as automotive and logistics, electric and electronics, medical and engineering etc. Towards the end of 2016, North American market size will reach 11.2 billion US dollars, by the end of 2026 it might increase to 22.8 billion US dollars, estimated compound growth rate is 7.3%.

Within product types, the ABSSAN market is expected to account for 28.6% of the total market share of engineering plastics by the end of 2016. During the forecast period, high-performance engineering plastics are expected to grow at an average annual compound growth rate of 10.6% due to their growing use in the medical industry, while the compound annual growth rate for market demand is 9.6%.

From the perspective of application categories, the electronic and electrical sector accounted for the greatest market share in the global market for engineering plastics. Additionally, increasing urbanization, infrastructure and income levels would be the driving force behind the growth of the global engineering plastics market.