July 20, 2016
Wellesley, Mass., Jul 20, 2016 – The changing nature and general decline in the U.S. manufacturing sector has increased competition among supplier companies and materials of hose and tubing construction, causing significant industry changes. BCC Research reveals in its new report that one key change is the development of newer hose and tubing materials that compete with older more established synthetic resins and elastomers.
This report examines markets in which flexible polymers are used to fabricate hose and tubing for use in transporting fluids and other materials. A tube, a long cylindrical body with a hollow center, can either be rigid or flexible, depending on the service and its material of construction. A hose is generally considered to be a flexible tube.
The overall U.S. market for polymeric flexible hose and tubing materials, which totaled over 1 billion pounds in 2015, should reach 1.1 billion pounds in 2020, reflecting a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.4%.
The market for automotive and aeronautical hose and tubing, primarily automotive under-the-hood products such as cooling system and fuel hose, reached an estimated 141 million pounds (polymeric raw material) in 2015. A forecasted five-year (2015-2020) CAGR of 2.6% should increase market volume to 160 million pounds in 2020. Hydraulic hose, a market estimated at about 57 million pounds of polymers in 2015, of which about 33 million pounds was thermoset elastomers, should reach about 65 million pounds in 2020 on a five-year CAGR of 2.7%. Industrial hose, which totaled an estimated 237 million pounds in 2015, encompasses many different types ranging from large applications such as air/multipurpose hose and chemical/petroleum hose to smaller ones like fire hose. This segment should grow at about GDP rates to about 269 million pounds in 2017.
Industrial tubing, a smaller but equally diverse segment estimated at about 94 million pounds in 2015, should grow at a five-year CAGR of 2.1% to reach 104 million in 2020. Applications range from chemical and laboratory tubing to food/beverage, instrumentation, and ultrapure materials tubing. The market for consumer and healthcare hose and tubing should grow at a five-year CAGR of 2.4% to reach 490 million pounds in 2020.
Several important changes have occurred in recent years in accordance with new regulatory and environmental requirements in sectors such as automotive and industrial hose and tubing. One key industry change is that thermoplastic elastomers have gained markets at the expense of older traditional thermosets. Higher-performance thermoplastics like fluoropolymers and polyamides (nylons) are finding new uses where their properties justify their cost.
“Both newer and older materials compete for places in the hose and tubing market. The major competitive factors in the market are those between materials and technologies. Inter-material competition is a way of life in a technologically advancing society, and hose and tubing markets are no exception,” says BCC Research analyst J. Charles Forman. “There is strong competition and significant overcapacity in several sectors, and new technologies and products continue to also strive for market share.
Polymeric Flexible Hose and Tubing (PLS012G) analyzes the different types of hose and tubing products, the polymeric materials from which they are made, and their major end-use markets in the U.S. Global market drivers and trends, with data from 2014, 2015, and projections of CAGRs through 2020 also are provided.
Editors and reporters who wish to speak with the analyst should contact Steven Cumming at steven.cumming@bccresearch.com.
Polymeric Flexible Hose and Tubing( PLS012G )
Publish Date: Jul 2016
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