Polystyrene Foam Market is Expected to Reach $73.8 Billion by 2030-Allied Market Research

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled," Polystyrene Foam Market by Product and End Use Industry: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2030," the global Polystyrene Foam market was valued at $46.2 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach $73.8 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 5.1% from 2021 to 2030.

Rise in migration from rural to urban areas owing to higher incomes and industrialization has helped pace up the construction of new residential buildings in major countries across the world. This creates a market demand for insulation materials such as EPS and XPS foam insulating boards and panels. For instance, in the U.S., in 2018, a total of $302 billion was spent on new public constructions alone. There is also an increase in the demand for residential buildings. The demand for insulation materials can also be attributed to building energy saving codes inclined toward the use of more insulation materials. Hence, rise in construction of new buildings is projected to drive insulation materials demand such as EPS foam boards and panels. Opening of new manufacturing hubs in sectors such as automotive, electronics, and power is projected to surge in the non-residential sector, which in turn increases the demand for polystyrene foam based insulation products. On the other hand, renovation projects are projected to drive the market demand for polystyrene foam. The Canadian government introduced the ‘’Housing Now’’ plan in 2019. The program plans to build over 40,000 new residential units in Canada within the timeframe of 12 years. In addition, the use of foam-based packaging solutions is also a present driver of the polystyrene foam market. E-commerce companies such as Amazon use EPS packaging for shipment protection. In recent years, the market for e-commerce has grown massively, in turn, increasing the demand for polystyrene foam.

Demand for EPS and XPS foam from niche segments such as marine and agriculture is anticipated to offer fresh opportunities for the polystyrene foam market growth during the forecast period. EPS foam is one of the best materials to manufacture buoys, pontoons, and floats as it has excellent physical properties. As it is light in weight and has good buoyancy and resilience properties, EPS foam filled for maximum buoyancy is used in floating platforms for boat or yacht landing area, or at fishing area. It is also used in floating bridges. It is UV stabilized to maximize outdoor lift and its durability and low cost matches the economics of Pontoons. Both EPS and XPS foam are used in fishing, aquaculture, and seafood.

The global polystyrene foam market is segmented into product and end use industry. By product, the market is divided into EPS and XPS. In 2020, the EPS segment accounted for the largest market share and is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 5.4%. By end use industry, the market is divided into packaging, building & construction, and others. The building & construction segment accounted for the largest market share in 2020, while the packaging segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 6.0%. On the basis of region, the polystyrene foam market is studied across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA. Asia-Pacific accounted for the largest market share in 2020 and is also the fastest growing region at a CAGR of 6.2%.

Key players engaged in the production of polystyrene foam include Alpek, BASF SE, ChovA, Drew Foam, DuPont, Kingspan Group, Knauf Insulation, Sunpor Kunststoff GmbH, Synthos S.A., and Xella International.

Key findings of the study

• The Asia-Pacific Polystyrene foam market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of nearly 6.2%, in terms of revenue, during the forecast period.
• On the basis of product, the EPS segment accounted for the largest market share in 2020
• On the basis of end-user industry, the building & construction segment garnered the largest market share in 2020

Impact Of Covid-19 On The Global Copper Foil Market

• The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the global economy and subsequent shrinking of the GDP in global economies, thereby changing consumer spending patterns globally.
• The pandemic has disrupted the copper mining industry as a result of shortage of workforce. Production has been hit hard as coronavirus cases continue to rise among mine workers in Chile. The country is the world’s largest exporter of the metals, which are essential in almost all electronic products and manufacturing.
• The global sale of electric vehicles is projected to fall, thus interrupting 10 successive years of strong growth. In addition, due to the lockdown and travel restrictions, the crude oil prices dropped significantly. Low oil prices reduced the economic viability of the EV adoption as compared to combustion vehicles.
• Similar to EVs, the consumer electronics demand witnessed a decline as consumers spending pattern changed drastically.
• Global sales of smartphones declined in the early 2020 as a result of plant closures in China. China is a global leader in smartphone production and the first country to be affected by the pandemic. Hence, post the lockdown in China, the supply of smartphones declined.
• However, the demand for PCs and smartphones spiked during the fourth quarter. The demand for PCs was due to increase in remote learning and home office.