Market Overview
The market for refrigerants is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 5% during the forecast period of 2019-2024. One of the major factors driving the market studied is the expansion of the global cold chain market. However, stringent environmental regulations against fluorocarbon refrigerants is likely to restrain the market.- Rapid growth in the global automotive industry is also likely to boost the demand for automotive refrigerants during the forecast period.
- Increasing demand for bio-based refrigerants is likely to act as an opportunity for the market growth in future.
- Asia-Pacific dominated the market across the globe in 2018, owing to the rapidly growing construction and automotive industries.
Key Market Trends
Fluorocarbons to Dominate the Market
- Fluorocarbons has dominated the market owing to the increasing demand for hydrofluorocarbons.
- HFCs are widely utilized in air conditioning applications as they are less harmful to the atmosphere in comparison to other fluorocarbon refrigerants.
- They also serve as the most prominent substitutes for phased-out CFCs and HCFCs. Emerging nations are slowly phasing out fluorocarbon refrigerants and are working on phasing out HCFCs. This will, in turn, result in high demand for HFCs globally.
- HFCs are non-flammable, recyclable, energy efficient, less toxic, and are chemically stable. They are non-reactive with the environment even upon direct exposure.
- One of the chief advantages of HFCs over chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) is that they do not contribute to ozone layer depletion.
- Hence, fluorocarbons segment is likely to account for the highest market share during the forecast period.
Asia-Pacific to Dominate the Market
- In 2018, Asia-Pacific has accounted for the highest market share and is likely to witness the highest market share during the forecast period.
- The automotive industry has witnessed a major growth in the last decade. Development of the transportation sector is a major driver for the economic growth of China, and due to this, the sector is entirely run by state-owned corporations.
- According to 13th Five-Year Plan, allocation of CNY 800 billion (USD 116 billion) for railways, CNY 1.65 trillion (USD 240 billion) for roads, CNY 244 billion (USD 33 billion) for airways, and CNY 150 billion (USD 21 billion) for water transport, was issued in 2017.
- This mammoth allocation of funds paves a path for the manufacturing of various transportation vehicles, like buses, trains, ships, and airplanes in large scale. The rapid increase in production would in turn, accommodate a huge scope for usage of air conditioning systems in these vehicles.
- The cold storage capacity grew by over 800% in China over a period of eight years. Hence, with the growing Chinese cold chain logistics industry, which constitutes of refrigeration trucks and cold storages, the Chinese refrigerants market is expected to rapidly increase during the forecast period.
- Hence, Asia-Pacific is likely to dominate the market during the forecast period.
Competitive Landscape
The global refrigerants market is consolidated, with the top five players accounting for a major chunk of the market. Some of the major players of the market include Honeywell International Inc., Arkema Group, Mexichem, and SINOCHEM GROUP CO., LTD., among others.Read More