Activated Carbon

Activated Carbon Global Market Outlook:

• The global AC market is anticipated to be evaluated by $3.8 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of about 2.9 percent between 2023 and 2026. The production by volume is estimated to be around 3.24 MMT for 2023

• Coconut shell-based AC is most prevalent in APAC regions and constituted to about 33 percent of the total production in 2023 and expected to grow at a CAGR of about 3.1 percent until 2025

• Conformance to stringent environmental regulations in water treatment applications in the US and augmenting prominence for air pollution control are the key drivers for this market

Cost Break Up
Cost Model for CSAC - Cost Per MMT

• Raw material cost accounts for 75 percent of the total production cost of CSC. The cost of the raw materials depend on the supply and availability of coconuts

• The high cost of raw materials, stemming from a current coconut supply crunch in major growing regions like Philippines and Sri Lanka in addition to the fertilizer shortage supports increase in production costs

• Also higher energy/fuel costs due to the Russia-Ukraine war will add to production costs in the current year

Price Drivers

• The availability of raw material plays a major factor in the production cost of CSAC

• Coconut shells are seasonal and dependent upon weather conditions for the yield

• Weather patterns, like El-Nino, causes drop in production of coconuts, which leads to surge in production cost

• Labor costs constitute to about 12–16 percent of production costs and in labor intensive regions, such as India and China, the cost of production will be comparatively lesser than regions with labor scarcity

• Currently seasonal increase in coconut supply has marginally increased coconut shell availability

• However, the supplies are not sufficient to cater to the strong demand

Porter's Analysis on Activated Carbon

Supplier Power

• The availability of coconut shells is seasonal and dependent upon weather conditions for the yield, which increases the supplier power significantly

• Quality-specific demand from buyers on type of wood leads to relatively higher supplier power in the industry

Barriers to New Entrants

• Capital cost, access to advanced technology, and limited raw material availability, especially coconut shells are hindering the entry of new players

Intensity of Rivalry

• AC is used in multiple industry applications, which facilitates the need of different types of quality in AC

• Suppliers compete in the market with quality grades as point of differentiation

Threat of Substitutes

• Substances, like granulated rubber and coke breeze, have been tested as substitutes for AC, especially in water purification applications, but these materials have not been used on a large- scale basis

Buyer Power

• End-user applications, like industrial water purification, edible oil refining, and waste water treatment demands higher volume, and hence players in these segments have higher bargaining power

• Buyers with custom specifications, like pore size and other value-added specifications, have less room for negotiation