Transparent Plastics Market - Forecast(2024 - 2030)

Transparent plastics Market Overview

The transparent plastics market size is forecast to reach US$149.4 billion by 2027, after growing at a CAGR of 5.9% during 2022-2027. Transparent plastics are widely employed in everyday life for packaging, including bottles, glasses, and glassware. Transparent plastics like polyvinyl chloride and polyethylene terephthalate are used when a clear material is required for covering or packaging. Transparent plastics are flexible, UV resistant materials that possess special features like lightweight, corrosion, and chemical resistance, some of them are recyclable, durable, and water-resistant. Growing consumer need for take-out and ready-to-use products, which require healthy operation and convenient packaging, is predicted to drive the transparent plastics market during the forecast period. Some of the transparent plastics are non-biodegradable and have a severe influence on the environment and the increasing need and consumption of eco-friendly packaging material in developing and developed countries is expected to act as a restraint to the growth of the global transparent plastics market. However, the unavoidable packing application in several industries is expected to drive the growth of the transparent plastics market substantially during the forecast period.

COVID-19 Impact

Currently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the core end-use industries such as automotive, chemical, food, and beverage industry were highly impacted. Due to social distancing policy, most of the manufacturing plants of automobiles and chemical industries were shut down. Also, due to supply chain disruptions like delay in reaching of raw materials or non-arrival, disrupted financial flows, and rising absenteeism among production line staff and employees, OEMs have been forced to function at zero or partial capacity, resulting in lower demand and consumption for transparent plastics in 2020. According to the American Chemical Society, the total United states’ production volume of chemicals (that includes transparent plastic-based chemicals) apart from pharmaceuticals fell by 3.6% in 2020 on the account of the COVID-19 outbreak indicating that several developing and developed economies were not well-equipped to prevent the disease spread, this caused supply chain disruptions impacting the market, and resulted in a slight negative demand for various transparent plastic products during the pandemic.

Report Coverage

The report: “Transparent plastics Market – Forecast (2022-2027)”, by IndustryARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the Transparent plastics market.

By Form: Rigid, and Flexible.
By Plastic Type: Polycarbonate (PC), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Polystyrene (PS), Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA)and Others.
By Application: Packaging and Films, Consumer Goods, Glazing, Automotive Components, and Electrical Components, Medical, Bottles and Jars, and Others.
By End-Use Industry: Automotive, Electrical and Electronics, Building and Construction, Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals, Food and Beverages, Chemical, and Others.
By Geography: North America (USA, Canada, and Mexico), Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Belgium, and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Rest of APAC), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Rest of South America), Rest of the World (the Middle East, and Africa).

Key Takeaways

• Asia-Pacific is the largest consumer of transparent plastics globally in terms of value and volume, owing to the increasing consumption for packaging applications in various industries such as automotive, food and beverages, chemical, pharmaceuticals, and others.
• China is one of the world’s largest production sites of transparent plastics in the world.
• The Packaging and films segment in applications held a significant share in the market, and it is expected to grow during the forecast period.
• One of the major factors that are driving the growth of the transparent plastics market is the increasing need and production of plastics.

 Figure: Asia-Pacific Transparent plastics Market Revenue, 2021-2027 (US$ Billion)

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Transparent plastics Market Segment Analysis – By Form

The rigid segment held the majority share in the transparent plastics market in 2021. The rigid transparent plastics segment holds the largest share of the market as the rigid transparent plastics are utilized in several applications in building and construction, electrical and electronics, packaging, automotive, healthcare, and others. The rigid plastics segment is expected to remain dominant during the forecast period because it's favorable properties like the nature of the blend, physical properties, and ease of consumption make rigid transparent plastics suitable for use in various applications. Rigid transparent plastics are preferred for their low cost, sustainability, attractiveness, and stiffness. Another advantage of these kinds of transparent plastics is that it allows written information such as product instructions to be placed on the label. Hence, due to all the above-mentioned factors, it is expected that the rigid segment dominates the transparent plastics market during the forecast period. 

Transparent plastics Market Segment Analysis – By Plastic Type

The polyethylene terephthalate (PET), held the largest share in the transparent plastics market in 2021, mainly because it is approved by the Food and Drug Administration in various countries and various other health-safety agencies throughout the world, as it is safe for contact with foods and beverages. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) has certain unique properties, that make it useful for wide applications, as it is clear, has good barrier properties, ease of handling, is lightweight, safe and recyclable, and hence it is becoming the most preferred packaging material for foods and beverages globally. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is an inexpensive thermoplastic polymer that has outstanding mechanical, thermal, chemical properties, and high strength. It is the most widely preferred transparent material for making water bottles, fibers, films, and soft drink containers. They are also widely employed in industries like electrical and electronics, construction and building, automotive, medical, and others. Further, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the most widely recycled plastic in the world. Due to the above-mentioned properties, polyethylene terephthalate dominates the transparent plastics market globally. 

Transparent plastics Market Segment Analysis – By Application

The packaging and films segment occupied a significant share in the transparent plastics market in 2021 and is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% during 2022-2027. The packaging and films industries are rapidly shifting towards lightweight, transparent, and durable materials, due to most of the consumer preferences. Hence, it has resulted in a growing demand for polyethylene terephthalate films and sheets, that offers these properties and are very economical. Traditional films are hugely being replaced by transparent plastics like polyethylene terephthalate films because they are safer, economically viable for food packaging, and are more stable strong over a wide range of temperatures. In 2020, as per the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry of Japan, 2.4 million metric tons of plastic - polyethylene films and sheets were processed. This high production quantity shows the increasing demand and consumption of plastic films, and the packaging applications in various regions and industries like automotive, food and beverages, chemical, pharmaceuticals, and others. Thus, the continuous growth of these industries has made packaging and films the largest and fastest-growing segment under the application segmentation of the market during the forecast period. These above-mentioned factors are expected to drive the demand and growth for the transparent plastics market, during the forecast period. 

Transparent plastics Market Segment Analysis – By End-Use Industry

The food and beverages segment occupied a significant share in the transparent plastics market in 2021 and is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 8.6% during 2022-2027. Transparent plastics are approved food-grade plastic, that is unreactive material that doesn’t react with the food contents of the material. This makes them fit for food and beverage packaging materials. There are no harmful chemicals, additives, or goods that can be consumed by using polyethylene terephthalate plastic-packed food and beverages which is a highly used material in the food and beverages packaging industry. It is a glassy, high solvent-resistant, flexible and strongest form of polyethylene films, making it perfect for packaging applications in several end-use industries like automotive, food and beverages, chemical, pharmaceuticals, and others, where it needs to hold the packaging shape. In the food and beverages industry, polyethylene terephthalate is used in the manufacturing of bottles and containers for storing water, juice, milk, food packaging in restaurants, retail and grocery bags, and others. According to the Sea-Circular Organization, the packaging industry in China is predicted to record a CAGR of 13.5% during the forecast period (2020-2025), accelerating the growth of transparent plastics in packaging under several industries. Due to the aforementioned factors, the packaging in the food and beverages industry is predicted to drive the market growth for transparent plastics over the forecast period.

Transparent plastics Market Segment Analysis – By Geography

The Asia-Pacific region held the largest share in the transparent plastics market in 2021 up to 41%, as it is one of the fastest-growing economies, and has become one of the biggest production houses in the world. China being one of the major manufacturing sectors, alone contributes to the transparent plastics market of this region. Due to an increase in demand for transparent plastics for packaging from various industries, the region has expanded its production capacity, in order to meet the domestic and export demand, due to the presence of cheap laboring countries. According to Plastics Europe Organisation, China alone contributes to 32% of global plastics production. The main reason behind the sturdy transparent plastics’ growth in the Asia-Pacific region is mainly due to its increasing consumption of plastics in countries, like China and India. According, to the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) organization, in 2019, the total plastic products enterprises’ output was 79.915 million tons, which is up by 32.26% year on year. Moreover, as per the Plastics Export Promotion Council (PLEXCONCIL), India is planning to have 18 plastic parks with an investment of around US$6.2 million by the government, and to reach a target of US$25 billion of plastic exports by 2025, mainly to increase both the domestic production and foreign exports of plastics, showing more transparent plastics market opportunities to Asia-Pacific region. Hence, all the stated developing factors are expected to bring in a significant impact on the demand and production of transparent plastics within the Asia-pacific region over the forecast period.

Transparent plastics Market Drivers

Increasing Electric Vehicles in automotive production

Transparent plastic is widely used for packaging and in auto components in the automotive industry, which have experienced a larger utilization in recent years, and their applications have been increasing with a tendency for further growth compared with other materials used in automobiles. Transparent plastics are preferably used compared to other materials, due to their lightweight, affordability, easy manufacturing methods, and relatively lesser fuel consumption in electric vehicles. Global automotive production mainly EVs is seeing an increase every year and recently more. According to the international energy agency (IEA), electric cars accounted for 2.6% of global car sales and about 1% of global car stock in 2019, which registered a 40% year-on-year increase, in spite of a pandemic. Proving the capacity of EVs and the automotive industry to recover in spite of a global crisis, consequently maintaining a market demand for transparent plastics as the automotive industry is rapidly shifting towards lightweight materials in order to use in electric vehicles. 

Growing demand for transparent plastics in healthcare and pharmaceuticals

There is a constant surge in demand for transparent plastics from pharmaceuticals and healthcare facilities as it is used in the production of many useful products like medical devices, medical implants, and pharmaceutical consumables and packaging materials like medicine bottles, syringes, and others. Transparent plastics like polyethylene terephthalate are used in many applications because of their excellent performance values such as low density, easy recyclability, diverse processability, and most importantly cost-effectiveness. The growing investment in healthcare and pharmaceuticals is strengthening the transparent plastics industry. For instance, according to the Indian brand equity Foundation (IBEF), the healthcare market in India is expected to reach US$372 billion by 2022, driven by rising income, better health awareness, lifestyle diseases, and increasing access to insurance, and also the Australian government announced to drive a new era of better health care and will invest US$1.3 billion in their pharmaceutical and medical industry growth plan. Thus, all the above-mentioned factors are markedly fuelling the transparent plastics market growth. 

Transparent plastics Market Challenges

Stringent Government regulations

Different countries have made a different set of directives and legislation to follow concerning the utilization of transparent plastics. For instance, in May 2019, the house representatives of Nigerian banned the import, usage, and production of plastic bags in the country. In 2018, Taiwan announced its strategy to ban petroleum-based plastics in stores by sticking prohibition in offering bags at stores in 2020, increasing the price in 2025, and then finally by 2030 total ban of petroleum-based bags. In 2019, Thailand approved a road map for reducing scrap plastics by 2030. As part of the scheme, the government decided to ban the cups, plastic shopping bags thinner than 35 microns, and even plastic straws by 2020 which are required by the retailers, supermarkets, and shop vendors leading to increasing adoption of bioplastics. As such almost 127 countries have adopted some legislation to regulate the usage of standard plastics. Thus, such ban or restrictions is enforced or revoked on the usage of plastics, which acts as a major restraint to the growth of the market. 

Transparent plastics Market Landscape

Technology launches, acquisitions, and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the Transparent plastics market. Transparent plastics market top companies are:

1. DuPont
2. Dow Chemical Company
3. LyondellBasell
4. SABIC
5. Covestro
6. BASF
7. INEOS
8. Arkema
9. Evonik Industries
10. Eastman Chemical Company 

Recent Developments

• In March 2019, C-P Flexible Packaging, a leading manufacturer of flexible packaging products announced its acquisition of Flexo Transparent, a premier custom plastic manufacturing, and printing solutions provider. The reason for this acquisition as stated by them is “to penetrate attractive new end markets”. C-P is a long-standing portfolio brand of First Atlantic Capital which is a New York-based private investment company.

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