Asia’s textile chemicals market is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 7.6 per cent to reach nearly $11,626 million by the end of 2014-2020. The class of specialty chemicals which involves chemicals and intermediates that are used in various stages of textile processing such as preparation, dyeing, printing and finishing, is termed as textile chemicals. These are often used to enhance or impart desired properties colour to the fabrics during their manufacture. Textile chemicals comprising textile auxiliaries and textile colourants account for nearly 2 per cent of the overall specialty chemicals market.
Growing concern for ensuring sustainable development is expected to have a major impact on Asia textile chemicals market. There is an ever increasing demand for eco-friendly chemicals which minimize the amounts of water and energy required in various stages of textile processing and are in compliance with regional and international regulations. Moreover, due to fragmented nature of the industry, developing innovative, differentiated product offerings has become need of the hour in order to gain a competitive advantage. Also, growth in demand for functional finishes such as water repellence, anti-bacterial finish, and soil release among others has resulted in a steady growth of textile finishing chemicals that impart these specific finishes to textile and apparels.
Asia textile chemicals market has been segmented into two segments depending on the type of product. These product-type based segments are textile auxiliaries and textile colourants. Textile auxiliaries segment comprise those chemicals that are used during various processing stages involved in manufacture of textile and apparels from the fibre, fabric stage. The chemicals that impart colour to textiles and apparels fall under textile colourants segment of Asia textile chemicals market.
The two segments are evenly poised in Asia textile chemicals market with textile auxiliaries segment having a slight edge over textile colourants segment. During the forecast period, the demand for textile auxiliaries is expected to witness a faster growth as compared to that of textile colourants. Moreover, textile auxiliaries segment is expected to retain its majority share in market value terms throughout the forecast period. The forecast CAGRs for these segments are 8.0 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively.