APAC Kaolin Market - Forecast(2024 - 2030)

Report Code: CMR 1365 Report Format: PDF + Excel

APAC Kaolin Market Overview

APAC Kaolin Market size is forecast to reach $2304.8 million by 2025, after growing at a CAGR of 5.0% during 2020-2025. Rise in construction activities in developing economies, such as China and India owing to the rapid urbanization and industrialization along with greater migration of rural population to urban centers is projected to drive the demand for new housing units. An increase in population and the need for products like paper, rubber, plastic, ceramics, and paints are set to fuel the growth of the kaolin market. Furthermore, the eco-friendly nature and adequate availability of kaolin in the APAC region would increase overall growth in the APAC kaolin industry over the forecast period.

Report Coverage

The report: “APAC Kaolin Market– Forecast (2020-2025)”, by IndustryARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the APAC Kaolin Industry.
By Type: Calcined, Hydrous, Air Floated, and Others
By Application: Wires and Cables, Plastic and Rubber Industry, Construction, Paints & Coatings, Agriculture, Paper Industry, and Others
By Country: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia & New Zealand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Rest of APAC

Key Takeaways

  • China dominated the APAC kaolin market owing to the high availability of raw materials and the increasing construction industry and the emergence of new and existing kaolin manufacturers in this country. 
  • Furthermore, increasing demand for kaolin in the rubber and paint industry and increasing usage of kaolin as an antitranspirant owing to its opacity, gloss, brightness, and smoothness will have a positive impact on the APAC kaolin market in the upcoming years.
  • Strict government regulations for human health safety in different countries are hindering the growth of the APAC Kaolin Market. 
  • The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic is affecting operations of various industries such as the construction, paints & coatings, and others, as most of the countries in the APAC region, have issued “stay at home guidance” i.e., lockdown. And it is expected that the outbreak of COVID-19 will be seen in the whole year of 2020, and a few months in 2021.

APAC Kaolin Market Segment Analysis - By Type 

The hydrous segment held the largest share in the APAC kaolin market in 2019. Kaolin is termed as hydrous when the Kaolin has water bound molecule. Hydrous Kaolin is utilized for the preparation of surface-modified kaolin (SMK). This surface-modified kaolin (SMK) are utilized as functional fillers that are mainly for rubbers and plastic applications to impart specific electrical and mechanical properties. This surface-modified kaolin (SMK) thus can be utilized to substitute the more expensive fillers such as carbon black in the tire industry. Also, the hydrous type of Kaolin is used by different manufacturers in the industry such as paint, paper, surface modified clays, glass fiber, and rubber. The water-washed process is widely used in the production of hydrous kaolin as the process helps to retain water in the clay for about 12%-14%. Thus, owing to such properties of hydrous the demand for the kaolin market in the APAC region is anticipated to rise in the forecast period.

APAC Kaolin Market Segment Analysis - By Application 

Construction Sector held the largest share in the APAC kaolin market in 2019 by growing at a CAGR of 5.8% in terms of revenue during the forecast period from 2020-2025. Kaolin is used extensively in the construction industry, where its high fusion temperature and white burning characteristics make it particularly suitable for the manufacture of whiteware, porcelain, and refractories. Kaolin impregnated with solutions of transition metal salts is bleached with low-melting clays to attain a broad color scale for the ceramic bricks. Also, the Metakaolin form of kaolin suits well for the construction segment as it is a highly reactive product that exhibits pozzolanic properties which result in increased strength. Thus, an increase in the use of kaolin as an artificial pozzolanic additive for concrete to produce blended cement owing to the high pozzolanic reactivity of metakaolin is enhancing the growth of the market.

APAC Kaolin Market Segment Analysis - By Country 

China dominated the APAC kaolin market in the APAC region with a share of 36% in terms of revenue in 2019 and is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period (2020-2025). The Asia Pacific is growing in the global Kaolin market owing to the demand for ceramics in the construction industry, as kaolin is the major raw material used for manufacturing ceramic tiles. Besides, increasing construction activities in developing economies, such as China owing to the rapid urbanization and industrialization the demand for the kaolin market is also estimated to increase. According to Trade statistics for international business development data, China is the sixth-largest exporter of Kaolin and its related products with a total value of $117.42 million. Apart from the significant demand for kaolin clay by the ceramics industry in China, there is a growing need for kaolin clay not only in the construction sector but also in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, and cosmetics industries. According to Chinese Powder, a Chinese website specialized in the metal powder industry, the two segments with the most significant need for kaolin clay in China are the papermaking (45%) and the ceramics (16%) industries.

APAC Kaolin Market Drivers

Rising demand for Kaolin in the paper industry

The significant properties of kaolin such as controlled particle size distribution, platy particle shape, low viscosity, and non-abrasiveness enable the usage of Kaolin in the manufacturing of paper, primarily as a filler and coating. This property of kaolin helps in, improving the quality of paper, purity, rheology, and particle geometry characteristics, Kaolin is also used by the paper industry as a filler reducing cost and for the use of tree-based resources, which is enhancing the growth of the market. The particle size of kaolin plays an important role in fillers and coatings as larger particles provide added strength to paper. Also, kaolin coatings improve paper appearance, giving it varying degrees of gloss, smoothness, brightness, opacity, and most importantly printability. It improves printability by providing added ink absorption, ink pigment holdout, lowering linting tendency, and increasing roughness. Thus, owing to such properties of kaolin in the paper industry the market is further expected to accelerate over the forecast period.

Increased usage of kaolin in the construction field

Kaolin is used extensively in the construction industry, where its high fusion temperature and white burning characteristics are making it particularly suitable for the manufacture of whiteware, ceramics, porcelain, and refractories. Increased usage of kaolin in cement manufacturing and having properties like plasticity, shrinkage, hardness is boosting the market of kaolin in the construction segment. The increase in the use of kaolin as an artificial pozzolanic additive for concrete to produce blended cement owing to the high pozzolanic reactivity of metakaolin is also a factor driving the growth of the market.

APAC Kaolin Market Challenges

Availability of numerous substitutes

The presence of substitutes has an impact on the growth of the Paper Industry. Substitutes such as carbonates, talc, fuller’s clay, ball clay, and others are replacing Kaolin with the same property as Kaolin offered. In the paper industry, calcium carbonate is easily available which a bigger threat is for Kaolin. Also, the use of supplementary cementitious materials as a replacement for portland cement is the most effective way to reduce carbon footprint in the concrete industry. This, in turn, acts as a replacement for Kaolin. Furthermore, the increasing adoption and availability of ball clay with better strength and plasticity and fuller clay in improvising skin used in most cosmetic industries will further restrain the growth of APAC kaolin Market during the forecast period 2020-2025.

Market Landscape

Technology launches, acquisitions, and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the APAC kaolin market. In 2019, the market of the APAC kaolin market has been consolidated by the top ten players accounting for 28.35%. Major players in the APAC kaolin market are 20 Microns Limited, Ashapura Group, BASF SE, SCR-Sibelco N.V., EICL Limited, Active Minerals International, LLC, Hayashi Kasei Co., Ltd., Imerys S.A., Ashok Mineral Enterprise, and Shree Ram Group of Industries among others.

Acquisition/Product Launches

  • In May 2020, Sibelco formally completed the acquisition of Ukrainian clay producers. This acquisition augmented Sibelco’s sustainability profile, reserves, and mining life in Ukrainian clay, an important raw material for worldwide production of porcelain tiles.
  • In June 2020, EICL Limited acquired the full equity shareholding of Kaolin India Private Limited on 03-06-2020 from its group Company, and under the same, Kaolin India Private Limited became its wholly-owned subsidiary Company. 
  • In March 2019, Imerys S.A. launched EType™ hyper-platy kaolin product line, this high coverage kaolin's are designed for a wide range of paper applications, depending on the particle size and plate diameter. They are especially suited for coating lightweight paper. When blended with blocky pigments like calcium carbonate, they improve pre-coating coverage for premium coated paper and board applications

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1. APAC Kaolin Market- Market Overview
    1.1 Definitions and Scope
2. APAC Kaolin Market- Executive Summary
    2.1 Market Revenue, Market Size and Key Trends by Company
    2.2 Key Trends by Type
    2.3 Key Trends by Application
    2.4 Key Trends by Country
3. APAC Kaolin Market- Landscape
    3.1 Comparative analysis
        3.1.1 Market Share Analysis- Top Companies
        3.1.2 Product Benchmarking- Top Companies
        3.1.3 Top 5 Financials Analysis
        3.1.4 Patent Analysis- Top Companies
        3.1.5 Pricing Analysis
4. APAC Kaolin Market- Startup companies Scenario Premium Premium
    4.1 Top startup company Analysis by
        4.1.1 Investment
        4.1.2 Revenue
        4.1.3 Market Shares
        4.1.4 Market Size and Application Analysis
        4.1.5 Venture Capital and Funding Scenario
5. APAC Kaolin Market– Industry Market Entry Scenario Premium Premium
    5.1 Regulatory Framework Overview
    5.2 New Business and Ease of Doing business index
    5.3 Case studies of successful ventures
    5.4 Customer Analysis - Top companies
6. APAC Kaolin Market- Market Forces
    6.1 Market Drivers
    6.2 Market Constraints
    6.3 Market Opportunities
    6.4 Porters five force model
        6.4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers
        6.4.2 Bargaining powers of customers
        6.4.3 Threat of new entrants
        6.4.4 Rivalry among existing players
        6.4.5 Threat of substitutes 
7. APAC Kaolin Market-Strategic analysis
    7.1 Value chain analysis
    7.2 Opportunities analysis
    7.3 Market life cycle
    7.4 Suppliers and distributors Analysis
8. APAC Kaolin Market- By Type (Market Size -$Million, KT)
    8.1 Calcined
    8.2 Hydrous
    8.3 Air Floated
    8.4 Others
9. APAC Kaolin Market-By Application (Market Size -$Million, KT)
    9.1 Wires and Cables
    9.2 Plastic and Rubber Industry
        9.2.1 Plastic
        9.2.2 Rubber
            9.1.1.1 Silicon Rubber
            9.1.1.2 EPDM
            9.1.1.3 Natural Rubber
            9.1.1.4 Styrene Butadiene Rubber
            9.1.1.5 Others
    9.3 Construction
        9.3.1 Colored Concrete
        9.3.2 Swimming Pool
        9.3.3 Grouts
        9.3.4 Mortars
        9.3.5 Others
    9.4 Paints & Coatings
        9.4.1 Architectural Coatings
        9.4.2 Automotive Coatings
        9.4.3 Industrial Coatings
        9.4.4 Others
    9.5 Agriculture
        9.5.1 Seed Coatings
        9.5.2 Pesticides
        9.5.3 Fertilizer
        9.5.4 Others
    9.6 Paper Industry
        9.6.1 Thermal Paper
            9.6.1.1 Precoating
            9.6.1.2 Topcoating
        9.6.2 Others
    9.7Others
10. APAC Kaolin Market- By Country (Market Size -$Million, KT)
    10.1 China
    10.2 India
    10.3 Japan
    10.4 South Korea
    10.5 Australia & New Zealand
    10.6 Taiwan
    10.7 Vietnam
    10.8 Indonesia
    10.9 Thailand
    10.10 Malaysia
    10.11 Singapore
    10.12 Pakistan
    10.13 Bangladesh
    10.14 Rest of APAC
11. APAC Kaolin Market- Entropy
    11.1 New Product Launches
    11.2 M&A’s, Collaborations, JVs and Partnerships
12. Market Share Analysis Premium
    12.1 Market Share by Country- Top companies
    12.2 Market Share by type of Product / Product category- Top companies
    12.3 Market Share at Region level- Top companies
    12.4 Best Practices for companies
13. APAC Kaolin Market- List of Key Companies by Country Premium  
14. APAC Kaolin Market- Company Analysis
    14.1 Market Share, Company Revenue, Products, M&A, Developments
    14.2 Company 1
    14.3 Company 2
    14.4 Company 3
    14.5 Company 4
    14.6 Company 5
    14.7 Company 6
    14.8 Company 7
    14.9 Company 8
    14.10 Company 9
    14.11 Company 10 and more
"*Financials would be provided on a best efforts basis for private companies"