Specialty Fibers: Technologies and Global Markets

Report Highlights

The global market for specialty fibers reached 578.5 million pounds in 2014. This market is expected to grow to nearly 841.7 million pounds in 2019, a compound annual growth (CAGR) of 7.8%.

Report Includes

• An overview of the global market for specialty fibers.
• Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2013, estimates for 2014, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2019.
• Insight into various economic issues driving the specialty fiber and materials business as well as assessments of new and potential products that companies are developing.
• Analysis of the issues concerning the merits and future prospects of the business, including corporate strategies, technologies, and the means for providing these products and service offerings.
• An assessment of the market's recent growth, materials being used, status of production, status of commercial development, the barriers to entry, and the industry's current and future structure.
• Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.

Report Scope

The scope of this report is comprehensive, covering the present status of and future prospects for specialty fibers and products in North America. As defined in this report, North America includes the U.S. and Canada. Basically, the scope of the report includes diverse segments such as sporting goods, light vehicles, aircraft/aerospace and various industrial applications. Fibers covered include carbon, aramid, partially oxidized polyacrylonitrile, polybenzimidazole and other specialty fibers (metal matrix composite, polyphenylene sulfide, boron, carbon-silicon carbide and other advanced fibers).

These are analyzed in detail, as are technology developments, market conditions and opportunities, and five-year forecasts. The role of new technologies is reviewed in this comprehensive report. This BCC Research study analyzes the current North American market in detail and identifies the most promising market opportunities for the next five years. The markets in Western Europe, Japan, China and other global markets are covered as well.

In order to generate the information necessary to construct a reasonable future market for specialty fibers, it is necessary to undertake an examination of the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of materials and technologies. In addition to various fiber types, this examination also covers the many issues concerning the merits and future prospects of the business, including corporate strategies, technologies and the means for providing these products and service offerings. It also covers in detail the regulatory and economic issues that so many regard as critical to the industry’s current state of change. The report provides a review of the specialty fibers industry, its structure and the many companies involved in providing these materials and technologies. The competitive position of the main players in the market and the strategic options they face are also discussed, as well as such competitive factors as marketing, distribution and operations.

In this report, the term revenue is equivalent to, and is used interchangeably with the terms purchases, demand and sales. All growth rates mentioned both in the tables and in the text are based on the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2014 through 2019. In most cases, the actual quantity or volume (in pounds) is measured, and the calculated growth rates are easy to comprehend. Because current dollar measures are used to measure revenues, these growth rates reflect the growth in volume or real growth, including the effects of price changes and changes in product/service mix. The sum of the components in tables may not add to the total due to independent rounding.

The research methodology was qualitative in nature and employed a triangulating approach, which aids validity. The research involved two stages, one involving secondary research and the other primary research.

Initially, a patent search and analysis was conducted. This strategy identified companies and market applications and was the initiating force in research direction. Next, a comprehensive and exhaustive search of the literature on carbon, aramid and other specialty fibers was conducted. These secondary sources included automotive and related journals and related books, trade literature, marketing literature, other product/promotional literature, annual reports, security analyst reports and other publications. 

In a second phase, a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with marketing executives, engineers, business unit managers, design engineers and other personnel at the specialty fiber companies. Other sources include academics, technology and materials suppliers, technical experts, trade association officials, government officials and consulting companies. These were a rich source of data. Subsequent analysis of the documents and interview notes was iterative.

Analyst Credentials

Andrew McWilliams spent more than 25 years as a consultant with Ernst & Young, McKinsey & Company and A.T. Kearny focused on manufacturing before segueing into research analysis. He has been covering myriad technology categories for BCC Research for more than 15 years. McWilliams has a BA from Princeton University and an MA from Harvard University. He has worked in more than 40 countries and he resides in the greater Boston area.