Global chlor-alkali market to be boosted by the shale gas wave in North America

The global chlor-alkali market is expecting volumes within each three main components, caustic soda, soda ash, and chlorine, to reach 79.8, 74.2, and 58.1 million tons respectively over the next five years, giving the industry total revenue of $88.6 billion by the year 2017.

Chlor-alkali produces three important chemical building blocks such as chlorine, sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) and sodium carbonate (soda ash). These blocks react with other compounds to produce thousands of crucial products, which are used in various applications in day to day life such as energy-efficient building materials and solar energy panels, pharmaceuticals and crop protection products, electronics and fibre optics.

The drivers of the chlor-alkali industry are identified as high growth in developing regions, high demand in end-user industries, and high existing production capacities of chlor-alkali products. Most of the production capacity of chlor-alkali products exists in Asian region and high growth in their demand is mainly observed in developing countries. The high production capacities in the region also give flexibility to the manufacturers to scale up the production depending upon demand trends.

The US chlor-alkali market is benefiting from natural gas as more cost-competitive US PVC enters the export market.

The shale gas wave in North America is expected to boost growth for the chlor-alkali market as US polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producers take advantage of cheaper ethylene dichloride (EDC) - the feedstock for vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), which is used in making PVC.

Key players currently dominating the chlor-alkali market include The Dow Chemical Company (US), Akzo Nobel N.V. (Netherlands), Bayer AG (Germany), Solvay S.A. (Belgium), Olin Corporation (US), and Occidental Chemical Corporation (US).

For more information on the global chlor-alkali market, see the latest research: Global Chlor-Alkali Market

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