Market Overview

The market for butadiene is expected to register a CAGR of around 4% during the forecast period. Rapidly growing automotive production is expected to drive the market. Butadiene is majorly used in the production of styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and polybutadiene rubber (PBR), which is used to produce tires and plastic materials. Developing downstream market in Asia-Pacific is one of the drivers boosting the market growth. However, hazardous effects caused by butadiene is expected to hinder the growth of the market studied.

  • Polybutadiene dominated the market holding a share of almost 30%. However, the acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) segment is expected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period.
  • The innovation of bio-butadiene is likely to act as an opportunity in the future.
  • Asia-Pacific dominated the market across the world, with the largest consumption from countries, such as China and South Korea.



Key Market Trends

Polybutadiene (PBR) to Dominate the Market

  • The automotive industry relies on PBR for non-tire applications, such as hoses, belts, gaskets, and other automotive components, because of its high resistance to cold temperatures.
  • The increasing number of automobiles across the world and the increasing demand for PBR for numerous applications are expected to stimulate the growth of the global butadiene market. However, the recent downfall in automobile production and sales is likely to hinder the market growth.
  • PBR consumption is dominated by Northeast Asia, particularly China. West Europe and North America are the next largest consumer regions for PBR.
  • On the supply side, the PBR plants in Asia are running at full rates to meet the strong demand. Deep-sea supplies from Europe and the Middle East are also expected to head to Asia, in order to help meet the strong demand.
  • Leading producers of PBR around the world include Lanxess, Korea Kumho, Michelin, Ncgromcx, Nippon Zeon, Petkim, Turkey, Petrochim, RcpsonOuimica, Taiwan Synthetic, Ube and Romania, and CIS.



Asia-Pacific Region to Dominate the Market

  • The Asia-Pacific region dominated the global butadiene market. The downstream market in Asia-Pacific witnessed a huge spur in the past few years, owing to which, the demand for butadiene has witnessed a rapid increase due to its requirement.
  • China has achieved some milestones in shale gas exploration, both in capacity and drilling techniques, making it one of the top shale gas suppliers worldwide.
  • India, with the support of the United States, is working on developing the shale gas exploration in its coastal regions, with US companies joining the exploration process. India has recoverable shale gas reserves, which are estimated to have a capacity of 96 trillion cubic feet (tcf), mainly in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan. The Krishna-Godavari basin, located in eastern India, holds the country’s largest shale gas reserves, extending over 7,800 gross square miles, with a prospective area of 4,340 square miles.
  • Presently, Australia has the seventh-biggest potential shale gas resources and the sixth-biggest shale oil resources in the world. According to an estimate, the technically recoverable shale resources were at 437 tcf in six basins, and about 1,000 tcf in all the prospective basins, in 2013. Australia has large shale gas formations that are similar in size to the Marcellus and Bakken formations in the United States.
  • Therefore, the aforementioned factors are expected to drive the demand for butadiene in the coming years.



Competitive Landscape

The market studied is fragmented, and the top five players account for a market share of ~30% of the total production capacity. Some of these major players include LyondellBasell Industries Holdings BV, BASF SE, China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), Exxon Mobil Corporation, and TPC Group.

Reasons to Purchase this report:

  • The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
  • Report customization as per the client’s requirements
  • 3 months of analyst support