German Firm Offers Plastic Piping Report

Plastics recyclers, or those considering entering that sector, may gain insight into the sizable plastic pipe market with a new report available from the market research firm Ceresana.

“Plastic pipes are mainly used in the sewage, drinking/potable water, gas supply, cable protection and agriculture industries. They are likely to gain further importance in the future,” says Germany-based Ceresana in marketing materials announcing its new report, which offers forecasts of the global plastic pipe market through 2019.

“While pipes based on polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene are still in the process of challenging the dominance of PVC pipes in potable water supply, they are already playing a notable part in both gas supply and in industrial applications,” says Oliver Kutsch, CEO of Ceresana.

During the upcoming years, the use of plastics such as polybutylene, polyamide and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), is likely to become more widespread, the forecast predicts. “Yet PVC will remain the major raw material for the pipe industry, with an expected market share of more than 55 percent,” according to Ceresana. The second most important material is polyethylene (HDPE in particular), with expected market shares varying by region from 28 percent to 45 percent in 2011.

Ceresana expects Asian-Pacific countries to increase their market share of global demand to more than 60 percent by 2019, up from the current level of slightly more than 50 percent.

The multi-chapter report includes forecasts up to 2019, including revenue, production and demand figures split by product type and region.

Chapter 2 of the report examines the 16 largest countries in the pipe market in greater detail, while the third chapter offers analysis of major applications. The fourth chapter profiles the largest plastic pipe manufacturers, “clearly arranged according to contact details, turnover, profit, product range, production sites and profile summary,” says Ceresana.

Detailed profiles are given for 76 manufacturers, including Advanced Drainage Systems, Aliaxis S.A., Crane Group, Fondital Group, Georg Fischer AG, JM Eagle, Mexichem S.A.B. de C.V., North American Pipe, Pipelife International GmbH, Polypipe PLC, REHAU AG + Co, SIMONA AG, Tessenderlo Chemie NV, Tigre Tubos e Conexões S/A, Uponor Corp. and Wavin N.V.

More information on the plastic piping study can be found at http://www.ceresana.com/en/Market-Studies/Industry/Plastic-Pipes-World.