Ethanolamine Market Intelligence

Industry Outlook & Drivers

Ethanolamine Market Analysis and Global Outlook

Pesticides are expected to be the major demand driver of ethanolamine due to the increase in agrochemicals production in China and India. Rising disposable income in Asia and other developing economics is expected to spur the demand for detergents and personal care products, the major downstream industries for ethanolamine

Demand Market Outlook

Ethanolamine demand is expected to grow at 3.5-4 percent until 2022. Asia Pacific will be the major demand driving region for ethanolamine due to high growth rates in herbicides production and home and personal care products demand 
Ethanolamine growth rate in Europe and North America will be low due to mature downstream markets

Industry Best Practices 

• Large volume buyers usually prefer buying through contracts across all major regions. Whereas, small volume buyers, opt for spot
• Buyers in Europe and Asia can prefer sourcing from the US due to cheap cost
• Mix of contract/spot pricing is preferred in NA to excess capacity and Asia prefer more of spot buying

Global Market Size–Ethanolamine

• The global market size for ethanolamine is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5 percent Y-o-Y, mainly driven by the demand from detergent and herbicides industry.
• Steady increase in detergent consumption and glyphosate consumption across the globe will attribute to the sales of ethanolamine in the future

Global Capacity–Demand Analysis

• Ethanolamine has enough capacity to cater to the demand until 2022, which is expected grow at 3.5–4 percent. Sadara is the only company adding a new capacity of 20,000 MT per annum of ethanolamine in Jubail, Saudi Arabia

Market Outlook

Sufficient Capacity until 2022: 

• The current installed capacity will be enough to meet the global demand until 2022.
• The average operating rate of the suppliers is anticipated to be around 75–80 percent, which is more sufficient to meet the demand levels

Detergent and Herbicides Industries to Drive the Demand: 

• Ethanolamine global demand was mainly driven by the demand from Detergent and Herbicides industries, which is expected to grow by 5 percent and 6.2 percent respectively until 2020

Increasing Demand from Other Applications: 

• Ethanolamines Prices:Other downstream industries of ethanolamine like gas treatment and cement production is expected to have a less impact on ethanolamine prices, as their market size is about 20 percent of the total end-use market

Global Demand by Application

• Glyphosate, which uses ethanolamine as its raw material, is expected to be the major demand driver for ethanolamine because of increase in crops production in Asia and North America.
• Increasing disposable income in developing economies like Asia is expected to drive the demand for detergent, which in turn drives ethanolamine demand

Downstream Demand Outlook

Detergent and Personal Care:

Ethanolamine is used as an intermediate in the production of surfactants, which goes into the production of detergents. The consumption of detergents is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5 percent until 2022, which is expected to increase ethanolamine demand.

Herbicides:

•  Ethanolamine is used in the production of glyphosate, a herbicide used as a weed killer in agriculture. Glyphosate is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5 percent until 2022 due to an increase in growth of agriculture, mainly genetic modified crops in the Asian and North American region

Cements:

• The cement industry uses ethanolamine to produce cement grinding aids and performance enhancers. The global construction industry is expected to grow at 4 percent until 2022 due to an increase in construction activities in Asia, which in turn increases the demand for ethanolamine

Gas purification:

• Ethanolamine is used in gas treatment application to remove acidic impurities, such as hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. This market is expected to grow by more than 3 percent, which is expected to increase the ethanolamine demand

Global Trade Dynamics

• North America: Net exporter of ethanolamine and the export had increased by 26 percent from FY 2015 to FY 2016. However, in 2018, the export rate decreased, as several US plants were offline for planned maintenance
• Europe: Net importer of ethanolamine, due to high cost of production, which is attracting low-cost imports from other regions, especially from Asia
• Asia: The import of DEA and MEA decreased drastically in 2018, as China imposed ADD on the US, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia