Abstract
Global demand to rise 5.3% per annum through 2013
Worldwide demand for geosynthetics is projected to rise 5.3 percent annually
to 4.7 billion square meters in 2013. China, India, Russia and other countries
with large-scale infrastructure developments planned, and evolving
environmental protection regulations and building construction codes are
expected to register the strongest advances. While growth in geosynthetic
sales is expected to be substantial in nearly every region, the underlying
reasons for that growth will vary widely.
Strong growth in China will benefit Asia/Pacific region
The Asia/Pacific region, the largest market, accounted for 44 percent of
global geosynthetic sales in 2008. Advances in this region are primarily
driven by China, which itself accounted for three-quarters of the region' s
geosynthetic sales in 2008. Gains stem from the country' s ongoing development
of large-scale hydrological and transportation infrastructure projects, as
well as its need to protect against erosion and soil loss. Similarly, India is
expected to exhibit double-digit annual growth through the forecast period as
it also develops its transportation infrastructure and landfills, as well as
greater erosion protection. However, in many of the least developed countries
of the world, growth will be more limited due to lack of adequate funding, a
lack of regulations that require geosynthetic use and the presence of
lower-cost alternatives.
The North American region was the second largest market in 2008, accounting
for nearly a quarter of global sales. Advances in the US market are expected
to be aided in the near term by government spending initiatives on roads,
bridges and other public works projects that have been included as part of an
economic stimulus package. Canada' s geosynthetics market is much smaller than
that of the US, but benefits from a comparable level of development,
regulation and ability to fund the upfront costs of geosynthetics. The Mexican
market is smaller still and much less mature than its US and Canadian
counterparts, largely because of competition from lower-cost alternatives such
as rock aggregate and natural fiber geotextiles, as well as a less stringent
environmental and construction regulatory environment.
Western Europe and Japan are fairly comparable to the US in terms of the level
of maturity of their respective geosynthetic markets, as well as the type of
regulatory environment. These countries are constructing large-scale
infrastructures and landfills at a much slower pace than in less mature
markets. However, the relative affluence of these countries allows them to use
advanced geosynthetic technologies to improve construction and environmental
protection practices despite their larger upfront costs.
Major markets to exhibit healthy advances
In 2008, the construction market accounted for the largest share of
geosynthetic sales, benefitting from factors such as the passage of
environmental regulations and building codes, as well as the rising need for
erosion control and other practices to provide reinforcement and drainage and
to protect against soil loss in a growing number of countries. The
transportation infrastructure market was the second largest market in 2008,
and both it and construction are expected to post strong growth through 2013.
Gains will be aided by the increasing use of geosynthetics in transportation
infrastructure to extend the useful life of these projects and reduce the
maintenance requirements.
Study coverage
These and other findings are contained in World Geosynthetics, a new Freedonia
industry study, presents historical demand data (1998, 2003 and 2008) plus
forecasts for 2013 and 2018 by product and market in six regions and 19
countries. The study also considers market environment factors, evaluates
company market share and profiles 38 players in the global industry.
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