World Demand for Pressure Sensitive Tapes to Reach 36 Billion Square Meters

NORTHGATE MINERALS L (AMEX: NXG)

Northgate Minerals Corporation engages in mining and exploring gold and copper properties in Canada and Australia. The company has a 100% interest in the Kemess South open pit mine, and its associated infrastructure and mineral rights located in north-central British Columbia, as well as owns interests in the Young-Davidson property near Matachewan, Ontario. It also holds interests in the Fosterville mine, a gold mine situated in Bendigo, Melbourne; and the Stawell mine, an underground gold mine located in central Victoria, Melbourne.

World demand for pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA, self-adhesive) tapes is forecast to expand 5.0 percent per year through 2012, reaching 36 billion square meters.  In value terms, tape sales will rise a slower 3.3 percent annually to $30 billion, as raw material costs stabilize or decline following the 2004-2007 run-up.  Projected growth in tape production will generate demand for around 3.2 million metric tons of raw materials in 2012, including adhesives and various backing substrates. These and other trends are presented in World Pressure Sensitive Tapes, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm.

Corrugated carton sealing tapes will remain by far the most widely used tape type, accounting for over two-thirds of demand in 2012.  Nevertheless, gains in this market will decline relative to the performance of the 2002-2007 period due to a deceleration in growth for global food and beverage shipping.

Masking tapes, the second largest product type, will register the slowest gains, with growth hindered by decelerating building construction spending and shifts toward less tape-intensive industrial coating technologies.  Among the other tape types, the best opportunities exist for double-sided tapes, with medical and other specialty tapes also performing favorably.

PSA tape sales in China, India, and Eastern Europe will enjoy particularly favorable prospects through 2012.  China is expected to expand its share of the world tape market from 24 percent in 2007 to 29 percent in 2012, with gains driven by strong (albeit decelerating) economic growth and the massive tape requirements of China’s vast and continually expanding export-oriented manufacturing complex.

The US accounts for 21 percent of global demand, although its share of the world market will continue to decline due to decelerating economic growth and mature key tape consuming industries in the country such as food and beverages, and building construction.  The same can be said for most other developed countries in Western Europe and the Asia/Pacific regions, where annual tape demand growth will significantly lag the global average through 2012.

The Freedonia Group is a leading international business research company, founded in 1985, that publishes more than 100 industry research studies annually. This industry analysis provides an unbiased outlook and a reliable assessment of an industry and includes product segmentation and demand forecasts, industry trends, demand history, threats and opportunities, competitive strategies, market share determinations and company profiles.