New product development and mergers &
acquisition were the key strategies adopted by industry players to achieve
growth in the global optical brighteners market between 2011 and 2015. These two
strategies together accounted for the largest share of all the strategies
adopted by market players.
Download PDF Sample Report at https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=95811166
The rising demand of whiter and brighter materials
has forced paper, textile, and plastics industries of various countries to
initiate the use of optical brighteners. Use of optical brighteners in master
batches in plastic industry also act as a driver for the growth of optical
brighteners market. High-quality physical and chemical properties as well as
resistance to various chemicals and light fastness are likely to drive the
global optical brighteners market. The growing popularity of optical
brighteners over conventional processes such as bluing in various applications
play a significant role in driving the market. Rising growth in the paper
industry, increasing consumption of optical brightener plastic and textile
industry are driving the market growth worldwide. These market drivers have
encouraged the market players to adopt various growth strategies.
Some of the leading optical brighteners manufacturers,
such as BASF SE (Germany), RPM International Corp. (U.S.), Keystone Aniline
Corporation (U.S.), Aron Universal (India), Huntsman Corporation (U.S.),
Clariant AG (Switzerland), Brilliant
Colors Inc. (U.S.), 3 V
Incorporation (U.S.), and The Fong Min International Company Limited.
(Taiwan), and Archroma (Switzerland).
Beside new product development and merger &
acquisition, companies adopted expansion to expand their market share and
distribution network. These strategies accounted for maximum share of the total
number of growth strategies adopted by the market players of optical
brighteners between 2011 and 2015.
New Product
Launch accounted for 46.7% of the total strategic developments witnessed in the
optical brightener market. This is the most commonly used strategy by the
market players among all other strategies in the global optical brightener
market. Companies adopted this strategy for developing new and advanced
products to strengthen their product portfolio.
Huntsman introduced a new product Uvitex
Bha Liquid, for cellulosic fiber. With this development the company increased
the consumption of optical brightening agents in textile industry. Huntsman
generally uses a product differentiation strategy to enter in new markets.
Huntsman manufactures a wide range of fluorescent whitening agents, which it
offers under the brand name, UVITEX. It focuses on environment, supply chain,
and innovation for sustaining in the marketplace. Clariant showcased its new
products Leucophor BMBB and the Hostalux ACK which increased the scope of
applications in the global optical brighteners market. The company sells
optical brightening agents through its CESA Bright brand, which has significant
end-use applications in the plastic & textile industry. It focuses on
better positioning of its products globally to capitalize on expected high
market growth through development of innovative products and technologies.
Expansions accounted for 13.3% of the total
strategic developments in the optical brightener market. Companies adopted this
strategy to increase their regional reach and expand their product portfolio.
Europe was the largest market for optical
brighteners and Asia-Pacific was the second largest market for optical
brighteners in 2014. Europe was the largest market for optical brighteners but
Asia-Pacific registered the highest growth rate during the period forecasted
between 2015 and 2020. The high demand in Europe is because of growth in the
paper industry in last few years. Paper, fabrics, detergents & soaps, and synthetics
& plastics are the major applications of optical brighteners, and
the end users such as consumer products, security & safety, textiles &
apparels and packaging are the major consumers of these intermediate products
Paper application dominated the optical
brighteners market in 2014. Fabrics accounted for the second largest share in
2014. Thus paper and fabrics applications are expected to drive the overall
demand of optical brighteners during the period of study. Increasing level of
whiteness and the HYP substitution in fine papers have increased the importance
of optical brighteners globally in the recent years. The rising demand for
biodegradable brighteners in countries, such as Germany, and France, is
expected to increase their demand in fabrics in the coming years.
Increased usage of optical brighteners in
soaps & detergents and increased focus on environment friendly products in
the packaging as well as textiles & apparel industry is expected to drive
the optical brighteners market. Nearly 0.0010% of optical brighteners are
consumed per kilogram (kg) of plastic and the demand is projected to increase
owing to emerging applications in masterbatches. The use of optical brighteners
has also increased in engineering plastics, such as acrylics, polyamide,
polyesters, and polycarbonate.
The effectiveness of an optical brightener
in plastic industry is dependent upon the type of substrate, and processing
conditions. In other words, optical brighteners are effective at very low
concentrations. Optical brighteners are used to provide coloration to plastics
in order to make them shinier and brighter.
The market
players are expected to employ organic growth strategies such as regional
expansion and new product development to expand their overall business
worldwide. The key companies operating in these markets are striving to provide
innovative products and enhance their presence in the emerging markets. They
are also focusing on strengthening research and development facilities to
provide cost-effective product grades. All these developments are expected to
lead to sustainable growth of the optical brighteners market in the next five
years.
BASF SE
(Germany), RPM International Corp. (U.S.), Keystone Aniline Corporation (U.S.),
Aron Universal (India), Huntsman Corporation (U.S.), Clariant AG (Switzerland),
Brilliant Colors Inc. (U.S.), 3 V Incorporation (U.S.), and The Fong Min
International Company Limited. (Taiwan), and Archroma (Switzerland) are the key
companies manufacturing optical brighteners and having strong foothold in the global
market.
