Demand for Disinfectant and Antimicrobial Chemicals to Reach $1.2 Billion in 2013

Demand for disinfectant and antimicrobial chemicals is projected to increase 3.6 percent annually to $1.2 billion in 2013.  Although this represents a substantial deceleration in value gains from the 2003-2008 period, growth in volume will accelerate due to rebounding production levels in key industrial markets such as coatings and plastics.  The strong value gains in the previous five-year period were due in large part to price runups from 2005 to 2008, when the price of crude oil and other raw materials soared.  These and other trends, including market share and product segmentation, are presented in Disinfectant & Antimicrobial Chemicals, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm.

Demand for disinfectant chemicals in industrial, institutional and commercial, and consumer markets is expected to grow, despite considerable scientific disagreement about the necessity of using disinfectant chemicals in many of their current applications.  Gains in the consumer market -- the fastest-growing overall -- will be driven by fears of foodborne and other pathogens, as disinfectant active ingredients are being added to many traditional cleaning products that have not typically contained such ingredients.  In the health care market, there is broad agreement that aggressive infection control programs are necessary.  As a result, it will remain one of the largest outlets for these products.   

Use of these chemicals in antimicrobial additive applications, such as in paints, plastics or textile products, is less controversial.  These applications are less likely to create an environment that could lead to the formation of resistant strains of bacteria, and the chemicals are used to prolong the functional lives of these products.  However, there are environmental concerns about some of these additives. 

Organosulfurs will be the fastest-growing product category, due mainly to developments in the paint and coatings industry, the largest user of these products.  Not only is overall coatings production expected to rebound from a poor performance in 2008, but organosulfurs are likely to be the leading replacement for tributyl tin (TBT) in the marine antifoulant segment.  Overall, phenolic compounds will remain the largest product category.  Phenolics are one of the few product categories that are used extensively as both disinfectant actives (e.g., ortho-phenylphenol in hard surface cleaners) and antimicrobial additives (e.g., triclosan in plastic products and textiles). 

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.