Grand View Research: PE Wax Market $953.2 Million in 2018

In its new report, “Polyethylene Wax Market Size Share and Trends Analysis Report By Product (High Density Polymerized Wax, Low Density Polymerized Wax, Oxidized, Acid-Modified, Low Density Cracked), By Technology, By Application, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 – 2025,” Grand View Research valued the global polyethylene wax market size at $953.2 million in 2018.

The growth in this market can be attributed to rising shale gas production in China, and North America, coupled with growing demand from coatings and printing inks sectors is projected to drive the market over the forecast period.

Polyethylene (PE) wax is a type of synthetic wax prepared by ethylene polymerization and is nontoxic, hard and white. PE waxes are available in the form of pellets, flakes and powder. Key end-use industries for PE wax comprises the coating, textile, printing inks, polish, food packaging and processing, paints, oil and gas, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, pa-per and leather.

The use of quality packaging in the foods industry will further drive demand for polyeth-ylene wax. Industry players are focusing on incorporating advanced technologies for their manufacturing processes. Honeywell initially, adopted technology for PE wax production and its additives development, which is presently used by numerous other plastic and chemical manufacturers globally.

High density polymerized product segment was leading the market and accounted for a significant share of revenue in 2018. High density polymerized is the most commonly used PE wax with high density and tensile strength.

The product has found its wide application in manufacturing industries due to high per-formance properties like low melt viscosity and compatibility with plasticizers, lubricants and stabilizers. LDPE and HDPE are obtained through high-density polymerization and are usually used as PVC processing lubricant, hot-melt adhesives modifier, and water-based emulsion additive to improve slip, friction, and scratch resistance.

Oxidized was the second-largest product segment, which is expected to grow on account of increasing application in the coating, plastics, inks, rubber, shoe, leather, lubricants, and masterbatches industries.

Based on technology type, the market has been segmented into polymerization, modifica-tion and thermal cracking. Recently, metallocene, a form of polymerization technology, is used by manufacturers as an enhanced and improved performance solution for the pro-duction of HDP and LDP. This is expected to bolster the polymerization technology growth in PE wax market.

Modification technology is used for co-polymer, oxidized, acid- modified, special monomer manufacturing. On account of high growth in acid-modified and oxidized demand, the technology share is also expected to show an increase over the forecast period.

Modification segment demand is proportionately influenced by growing demand for oxi-dized, special monomer, acid modified, and co-polymer product segment. The market vol-ume is estimated to be driven over the forecast period by growth in the application seg-ment of acid-modified coatings and oxidized in inks, adhesives, and masterbatches.

The masterbatches emerged as the largest application segment owing to its wide applica-tion as plastic additives have demonstrated high demand. The plastic consumption is ex-pected to rise exponentially over the forecast period resulting in high consumption of masterbatches.