Super Absorbent Polymers
Market, Supplier, Risk and
Competitive Intelligence

Industry Outlook & Drivers

Super Absorbent Polymers Market Analysis and Global Outlook

The global Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP) demand is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.3 percent Y-o-Y until 2024, mainly driven by APAC, MENA, and LATAM.

• The growing demand for disposable baby diapers is a key driver, which occupies about 75 percent of the global SAP demand.
•  APAC will continue to be the net exporter of SAP, as buyers will rely on the supply of SAP from Japan, China, and Rep. of Korea.

SAP supply has improved in SE Asia as the logistics constraint reduced during Jun 2020. Buyers are looking to secure their volumes from suppliers in SE Asia and China, owing to lower feedstock prices. This has led to a significant fall in the supply-demand gap and SAP prices decreased by around 8-10 percent during Q2 2020 as compared to Q3 2019 owing to a steady fall in feedstock acrylic acid (CH2=CHCOOH) prices.

Global SAP Market Snapshot

The snapshot page of the report shows the reader all the important points and factors of the global SAP market at a glance. It is the easiest way to gather the most important facts and figures as well as the trends and key players in the global SAP market.

 Global Capacity–Demand Analysis

Global demand for Super Absorbent Polymers is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 5.6 percent Y-o-Y until 2022, mainly driven by the demand from disposable baby diapers, which constitutes over 70 percent of the global demand.

Market Outlook 

Sufficient Capacity until 2022.

•  The global installed capacity was enough to meet the global demand, provided the suppliers operate over 95 percent and there are no major force majeure/plant shutdowns.
•  Capacity additions were expected in 2018–2020 in India and China, owing to the improving demand for super absorbent products.

Increasing Per Capita Disposable Income 

• Increasing awareness on disposable baby diapers, increase in disposable income, and purchasing power of consumers in the growing economies, like Brazil, China, and India, will be the key growth drivers of disposable baby diapers

SAP Supply Scenario and Capacity Expansions in the Future 

• SAP suppliers are expected to operate their plants over 90 percent to meet the demand levels of the CPG industry in the future.
• SAP capacity addition by Nippon Shokubai during 2018 will play a key role to meet the global demand of the hygiene industry in the future.

Value Chain Analysis

The value chain analysis helps a person to understand the global SAP market from end to end in an easy step by step format. It also details the costs and value additions involved at each stage of the production. This is important to understand how factors influence the super absorbent polymer price trends directly and indirectly.

Global Demand by Application

SAP Downstream Demand Outlook

• SAP demand will be mainly driven by the demand from disposable baby diapers from emerging nations, like China and India, as they are expected to witness a steady growth rate of about 15–20 percent in the future.
• The birth rate in India is around 26–27 million/year, but the penetration rate of disposable baby diapers is as low as 2–3 percent, owing to the increasing awareness and a rapid shift from cloth nappies to baby diapers.
• SAP demand from water treatment, agriculture, and medical applications was expected to grow at about 6 percent Y-o-Y until 2018.
• Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP) is useful in any industry where their property of being able to absorb more liquid than its mass is very useful. It is also used as a sequestering agent in detergents and also as an ingredient in the adhesives industry.
• From artificial snow to toys that grow and expand in water, SAP’s end uses are growing globally. Some of the niche uses are as a fire retardant, in flood control as well as fuel monitoring systems in vehicles and aircraft.
• Increasing demand from these segments is not expected to affect the CPG industry, as:

–Most of the buyers procure from the spot market or engage with small-volume SAP producers.

–They account for only 5 percent of the global SAP demand.

Market Overview

Increasing overall annual disposable income in urban households, coupled with a low penetration rate of diapers, is expected to drive the demand for super absorbent polymers in India and China. The raw material cost constitutes a major portion of the total super absorbent polymer production cost in all the regions. The difference in percentage is due to the variance in electricity rates and labor cost. The top super absorbent polymer manufacturers alone account for about 73-74 percent of the global installed capacity. All these suppliers have their presence in APAC, except Evonik Industries. Among the top five suppliers, Nippon Shokubai has expanded its capacity during Oct 2018 and Sumitomo Seika was expected to expand its capacity by Dec 2018.

This section of the report also details all the global trends and forecasts that govern the super absorbent polymer price and market trends.

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Why You Should Buy This Report

The report consists of an analysis of the super absorbent polymer market size, super absorbent polymer price trends, demand- supply analysis and trade dynamics of global and regional markets.  The report also details all the historical trends in the global super absorbent polymer price and the reasons for the same. The different geographic regions and their inner dynamics such as price trends, import-export details as well as market maturity are given. The major exporting countries and the countries that they export to and their share are also studied. For importing countries, the major countries that import from are also given. If there are any peculiarities that differentiate one region from the global Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP) market, they are detailed.  It gives Porter’s five forces analysis of North America, Europe, and APAC markets.

The cost analysis section of the report studies the global super absorbent polymer price from the global as well as regional perspective. The report lists out super absorbent polymer industry drivers and constraints, super absorbent polymer price analysis, and gives the SWOT analysis of major suppliers like Nippon Shokubai, Evonik Industries, BASF SE, etc. It gives the super absorbent polymer market price, cost structure breakdown and lists the best sourcing and contract models in the super absorbent polymer market.