Injection Molded Plastics Market - Global Market Size, Share, Development, Growth, and Demand Forecast, 2014 - 2025

The growing demand from key applications including construction, automotive, and packaging, particularly in the BRICS nations such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, is expected to drive the growth of the injection molded plastics market during the forecast period. There has been a surge in capacity addition in growing economies such as the Middle East and Asia-Pacific in past couple of years. This, along with generating a consistent demand for injection molded plastics, also helps reduce the overall manufacturing cost.

Insights on market segments
On the basis of raw material, the injection molded plastics market has been segmented into polypropylene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polystyrene and others. Polypropylene is estimated to hold largest share in the injection molded plastics market in 2017, accounting for more than 25%. High polypropylene demand in automotive components, household goods, and packaging applications is a major factor driving its consumption. Increasing polypropylene penetration in protective caps in electrical circuit component, food packaging, and battery housings is expected to further drive its demand during the forecast period.

On the basis of application, the global injection molded plastics market has been segmented into packaging, consumables and electronics, automotive, construction, medical and others. Packaging is estimated to hold the largest share in the market in 2017, accounting for more than 26%. Injection molded polymers used in packaging go through various processing stages to cope up with regulatory norms and requirements of end users. Increased shelf life of processed food products, durability, better performance towards wear and tear are a few requirements that plastics need to fulfill for packaging applications.

The Asia-Pacific region hold the largest share in the injection molded plastics market
The Asia-Pacific region is estimated to hold the largest share in the injection molded plastics market, accounting for more than 30% in 2017. The region is expected to hold the largest share throughout the forecast period owing, to the growing usage injection molded polypropylene, ABS and HDPE in packaging, manufacturing and industrial sectors in countries such as India, China, Indonesia, Japan, and others. In addition, the Asia-Pacific region is the hub for semiconductor foundries and electronics manufacturing. On the other hand, injection molded polypropylene, ABS and HDPE are one of the most sought-after materials for manufacturing different semiconductor and electronics components. Therefore, strong penetration of electronics industries is driving the growth of the injection molded plastics market in the Asia-Pacific region.

In Asia-Pacific, with rapid developments in automobile technologies, conventional plastics are being increasingly replaced by high-performance materials including thermoplastic elastomers having properties of both plastic and rubber and lesser weight as compared to steel and other materials such as metals and compound mixes. The impact of using such injection molded thermoplastic elastomers and other engineering plastics for manufacturing of auto component is clearly visible as it decreases the overall weight of automobiles significantly (almost by 40%). Moreover, all the requirements that were earlier fulfilled by traditional rubber components are also being fulfilled by these materials, which is fueling the growth of injection molded plastics market in the Asia-Pacific.

Increasing packaging demand from food and beverages industry is expected to remain a major driving factor for the North America’s injection molded plastics market during the forecast period. Increasing demand for processed foods and soft drinks and alcohols are expected to be responsible for food and beverages industry growth over the past few years. Growth of building and construction industry in U.S. is expected to drive the growth of the North America’s injection molded plastics market. Building and construction industry in U.S. are expected to show signs of recovery during the forecast period, which will boost the demand for injection molded plastics.

Competitive Landscape
Some of the major players operating in the global injection molded plastics industry are Exxon Mobil Corporation, BASF SE, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., The Dow Chemical Company, Huntsman Corporation, Eastman Chemical Company, INEOS Group Holdings S.A., LyondellBasell Industries Holdings B.V., SABIC, and Magna International Inc.