The Market Analysis and Forecast of the Polyacrylamide

The polyacrylamide (or called as the Polyacrylate) PAM, is a kind of copolymer which is formed by the cross-linked acrylamide units. The polyacrylamide itself is of non-toxic, but because there is a certain amount of the unpolymerized acrylamide monomers in the polyacrylamide final products, the polyacrylamide product maybe cause it some harmful to the human health.

Thepolyacrylamide, as a chemical which could be tailored with different specification or features, is widely used in a broad range of applications, such as the oil exploration industry, the mining industry, the paper industry, the water treatment industry, the agriculture, the food industry, and the production of contact lenses, and so on. Recently, the polyacrylamide product, working as a new type of the filler, begins to be more and more popular in the practical application of the Norplant surgery.

Thepolyacrylamide is also widely used in the mining processing, especially in the treatment of the minerals. The polyacrylamide can not only be used to separate the mineral and the mineral ore, it could also be used as the flocculant in the treatment of the waste water from the mineral processing, or, be used to seal the mining channels during the mining processing. Along with the recovery of the mining industry in China and in the United State of America, the mining activities is becoming more and more active, therefore, the market demand for the polyacrylamide products is increasing dramatically in these countries in recent years.

At the moment, there are about 20 companies in the world, mainly the largest companies in both the size and in the capital capacity, provide the polyacrylamide products globally for the oil exploitation industry, among which are the top five companies, including the SNF Group (SNF) in France, the Merah Company (Kemira) in Finland, the DiaNitrix Corporation in Japan, the Ashland Inc. in the USA, and the BASF in Germany.

The world's major manufacturing center of the polyacrylamide product is now in China, North America and the European region. The world biggest polyacrylamide manufacturers, such as the Kay Merah, the BASF and the SNF Group, all have set up the large factories in these regions. And as the industry’s normal routine and practice, these large manufacturers normally will distribute the small orders or the minor orders to the small factories which are located in the regions like South Korea and India etc. to handle and produce.

Since in the North America there are vast number of the end users in various industries, covering the oil exploitation industry, the paper making industry and the water treatment industry etc., the market demand for differentpolyacrylamide product has always been maintained at the fairly high level. At the moment, because in the Asia-Pacific region, more and more countries start to implement the favorable investment policies while at the same time the market demand for the polyacrylamide products in the downstream industries keeps stronger and stronger, the above mentioned world major companies have started to set up their factories in this region. Among these companies, China, Japan and India has been their hotspot in the polyacrylamide production and the consumption of the polyacrylamide products. China, as the largest consumer of the polyacrylamide products in the world, still has the broad potential in the EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) technology and in the development of the R&D for the polyacrylamide products.

In the year 2008, the total global market volume of the polyacrylamide products is about 720,000 metric tons; the sales amount of the polyacrylamide product is about 2.1 billion US dollars. In the downstream industries of the polyacrylamide products, the total market share of the four major practical applications, the oil exploitation industry, the mining industry, the paper making industry and the water treatment industry, achieves about 68.5%, the total sales volume amount is about 662,400 metric tons and the sales amount is about 1.63 billion US dollars.

As forecasted by the Frost & Sullivan, from the year 2008 to the year 2015, the annual increasing rate of the global marketing of the polyaacrylamide products in these four major practical applications will continuously be maintained at about 7.4%, among which the annual increasing rate of the loading volume is about 2.7%, at the year 2015, the forecasting marketing amount will achieve about 2.51 billion US dollars.

The product nature of thepolyacrylamide product and its characteristics determine that the polyacrylamide product could be used widely in many application areas, that is to the polyacrylamide manufacturers both an opportunity and a challenge too. According to the Frost & Sullivan’s research, from the year 2009 to the year 2015, the major driving powder to the development of the polyacrylamide product market is from sever main sources: the recent recovery of the downstream industries involved, the better benefit margin from the technical service about the polyacrylamide products and the fast increasing of the new markets etc. At the same time, the global polyacrylamide product market also faces a lot of different challenges. In order to be serviced or even to be ahead in the worldwide furious polyacrylamide product market competition, a key factor is to have the cost and pricing advantage in the production of the polyacrylamdie products. That requires cutting off the production cost while at the same time guaranteeing the quality of the polyacrylamide products. In the South America, in China and in South Korea area, the labor cost is comparably lower, and furthermore, there is broad consuming potential there, therefore it is very imperative to establish manufacturing factories there as soon as possible. At the same time, because the technical service from the polyacrylamide products could bring in much better benefit margin, it is also very necessary to enhance the investment and the development on the technical innovation area. Besides, it is also an efficient method to enhance the competitiveness in the market by annexing or by consolidating the enterprises, or by establishing the joint venture Corporation etc.