KONSTANZ, Germany - Market research institute Ceresana is publishing the third edition of its market report on fillers.

The use of fillers reduces the costs of many products and often improves 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.

Ceresana forecasts that revenues generated in the global market for fillers will rise to approximately $27.7 billion in 2021. In 2013, Asia-Pacific was the largest sales market (worldwide) for fillers, accounting for 48 percent of total demand, followed by Western Europe and North America. The two most important applications for fillers are the processing of plastics and elastomers. Manufacturers of paper ranked third, followed by the coatings segment. The smallest application area that is analyzed individually is 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 nine percent. Demand for almost all types will increase rather steadily, with the highest growth rates of more than three percent per annum being forecast for carbon black and talc. The use of carbon black as a filler in the tire industry in particular will continue to increase considerably, due to growth of the automotive industries in China and India.

As fillers can be used in a variety of applications in various industrial sectors, the development of the market for fillers largely follows the macroeconomic development of a country. The markets for fillers in China and India are developing very rapidly. China increases demand by almost one million metric tons per 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 since 2010 and will continue to grow at moderate rates in the next couple of years.

The study provides an analysis of the global market for fillers, including forecasts to 2021. It analyzes revenues generated by fillers in the 16 most important countries and demand by application area. Additionally, the study examines demand for individual types of fillers, including GCC, PCC, carbon black, kaolin, talc and others.  It also provides profiles of the largest manufacturers, arranged according to contact details, turnover, profit, product range, production sites, profile summary, products, and applications.

For additional information about the report, visit http://www.ceresana.com/en/market-studies/additives/fillers/.