World Demand for Abrasive Products to Reach $38.2 Billion

Global demand for abrasive products is forecast to climb 5.9 percent annually through 2013 to $38.2 billion.  Advances in developing parts of Asia, the Africa/Mideast region, Eastern Europe and Latin America will considerably outperform demand in the US, Western Europe and Japan.  Product sales in developing countries will be fueled by healthy economic growth and ongoing industrialization efforts, leading to higher durable goods manufacturing output and fixed investment expenditures.  China, India and Russia will post some of the biggest sales gains.  China, which recently surpassed the US to become the largest national market for abrasives, will account for two-thirds of all additional product demand through 2013.  Sales advances are also expected to be healthy in Indonesia and Thailand. These and other trends, including market share and product segmentation, are presented in World Abrasives, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm.

Market conditions will be much less favorable in developed parts of the world, dampened by relatively sluggish durable goods manufacturing activity.  Abrasives demand in the US, Italy and France will expand less than one percent annually through 2013, while annual product sales are expected to decline in Germany, Japan and the UK.  However, higher per capita incomes will result in increased consumer expenditures for a variety of products made using abrasives, providing some offsetting support.  The sales outlook is somewhat stronger for Canada, South Korea and Spain due to comparatively healthy growth in manufacturing output in these nations, although market advances will still lag those recorded in industrializing areas.

Overall abrasives demand is dominated by nonmetallic products, which include bonded abrasives, coated abrasives, and loose abrasive grains and powders.  Nonmetallic abrasives are also expected to register larger sales gains through 2013 than metallic products such as steel shot and grit, and wire brushes and wheels.  Durable goods manufacturing is far and away the largest market for abrasives, accounting for more than three-quarters of all product demand.  Transportation equipment will record the strongest gains of any major durable goods market through 2013, bolstered by an expected recovery in motor vehicle and motorcycle production from the recession-impacted 2008-2009 period.