Aramid Fiber Market Report

Market Insights

First introduced by DuPont de Nemours, Inc. in the 1970s, aramid fibers have witnessed a remarkable transition over the decades across industries. The progression of the material’s range of applications from consumer electronics to automotive to aerospace & defense has been phenomenal. These fibers offer various outstanding properties, such as high tensile strength, high stiffness, good resistance to abrasion, good resistance to organic solvents, low flammability, electrically non-conductive nature, high dimensional stability, high cut resistance, and resistance to high temperature. The strength and modulus of aramid fiber are about five to six times and two to three times, respectively, of steel wires with the same diameter, whereas its weight is approximately one-fifth of the steel wire.

Despite a few bumps along the road for the governing industries (aerospace & defense and automotive), the demand for aramid fiber remained stable till 2019, impelling market stakeholders to prepare for skyrocketing demand in the years to come. But the COVID-19 crisis crashed all possibilities of a flourishing market in 2020. The two leading industries suffered the gravest impact of the pandemic, completely overturning the market conditions, with an overall acute decline of -13.4%, YoY in 2020.

However, the unremitting demand from the relatively unaffected defense and electrical & telecommunications industries is likely to be the redeeming grace for the aramid fiber market, indemnifying a portion of the losses incurred. Also, incessant investments towards the establishment of 4G and 5G networks are likely to support the aramid fiber demand in the long run. The market is likely to experience a brisk recuperation from 2021 onwards, translating to a cumulative sale of US$ 22.4 Billion during 2021-2026.

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Several other key factors propelling the growth of the market, in the long run, are-

• increasing wireless infrastructure revenue
• surging tire replacement demand coupled with an expected recovery in automotive production
• expected rebound in commercial and regional aircraft deliveries
• growing military expenditure
• increasing mining production, and
• the fibers’ upper hand among their arch-rivals such as steel and carbon fibers

The aramid fiber market is extremely concentrated with the top four players capturing the lion’s share of the market. The major companies focus on capacity expansions, collaborations, and partnerships to maintain their vanguards in the market and to pounce at any prevalent opportunities in the market. A few of the key collaborations/partnerships in the market are Teijin and Nippon Paper Papylia to expand Nomex paper capacity with a new facility in Japan which is expected to be established by 2021. Another significant movement in the market was the Dow and DuPont merger in 2017, valued at US$ 130 Billion, this was one of the biggest mergers in the industry, creating the world’s biggest chemical company, only to de-merge later in 2019.

Segments' Analysis