Soda Ash
Market, Supplier, Risk and
Competitive Intelligence

Industry Outlook & Drivers

Global Market Outlook on Soda Ash

Global demand is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.8 percent through 2020–2024

• The market is anticipated to witness downtrend in 2020 due to spread of coronavirus infections globally, which is lowering demand from key consuming flat glass segment, due to low automobiles sales and construction activities.
• The growth in construction industry, glass bottle packaging, and automobile sector in emerging economies, is expected to drive the global soda ash market for the next five years

The global soda ash market is expected to reach $20 billion by 2024. Rising construction spend in Asia and the Middle East is expected to drive the soda ash market. Increasing sales in the personal care industry in highly populated areas of Asia is likely to inflate soda ash consumption. The market is anticipated to witness downtrend in 2020 due to spread of coronavirus infections globally, which is lowering demand from key consuming flat glass segment, due to low automobiles sales and construction activities. 

Industry Drivers and Constraints

 Drivers

• End-use growth
  – The glass industry is the largest demand-driving segment (approx. 50 percent), which is expected to grow at a CAGR of approx. 3 percent from 2019 to 2023, driven by
• construction and automotive segments
  – The soaps & detergents segment, where approx. 20 percent of the soda ash finds its use, is expected to grow, with a CAGR of 4 percent from 2019 to 2023
  – Growth is driving sufficient capacity additions in the Middle East and India
  – Other smaller segments, like paper & pulp, water treatment, and the chemicals industry, are expected to grow with a CAGR of approx. 2 percent during the same period

Constraints

•  Higher carbon credit costs in Europe
  – Rising raw material, energy, gas and carbon credit costs, and strong demand are the major factors in Europe, which could lead to increase in producers’ price
•  Rising input costs
  – In Europe, higher contract prices are anticipated, due to stronger coking coal and energy prices, along with higher rates in the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which have squeezed profit margins for the region’s soda ash producers
• Limited technology providers
  – Technology and equipment providers for soda ash, using the natural process, is limited to the US, while soda ash by Hou’s process is limited to China
  – For the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia, service providers, like Jacobs Engineering and AECOM Process Technologies, are to be contracted, since there no local service providers