Despite a decline in mergers and acquisitions and a fall in new investment, the North American thermoplastics compounding industry has seen opportunities for growth over the last three years, according to “The thermoplastics compounding market in NAFTA” guide, recently published by British market research company Applied Market Information (AMI, Bristol / UK; www.amiplastics.com).

The guide lists over 500 companies involved in the 5.9m t/y NAFTA compounding industry. AMI says that since it last published the guide in 2007, the industry has been through the worst recession in living memory and has seen a fall back in market demand in almost all sectors. This has led to financial challenges for all companies in the market and a cutback in capacity and investment in the industry.

Recent M&A activity in the industry includes the merger of A. Schulman (Akron, Ohio / USA; www.aschulman.com) and polymer powders producer ICO (Houston, Texas / USA; www.icopolymers.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 26.01.2010 – and the acquisition of Accel Color (Naperville, Illinois / USA; www.accelcolor2.com) by Techmer PM (Clinton, Tennessee / USA; www.techmerpm.com).

Another report recently published by AMI – “Corporate performance and ownership among thermoplastic concentrate producers – A review of North America’s 50 leading players” – looks at the significant changes in the North American concentrates market as producers have worked towards expanding their product range or geographic coverage. Recent M&A activity includes the acquisition of the liquid colour business of US masterbatch producers Rite Systems (www.ritesystems.com) and Ricon Colors (www.riconcolors.com) by Clariant (Muttenz / Switzerland; www.clariant.com), see Plasteurope.com of 17.07.2008.

Masterbatch specialist Ampacet (Tarrytown, New York / USA; www.ampacet.com) has continued to expand in the custom colour industry with new investments in its DeRidder, Lousiana and Heath, Ohio facilities in the US. AMI said these investments highlight the move by larger concentrate producers, which have historically focussed on volume products, into smaller lot colouring. Techmer PM is an example of another company that has been pursuing this strategy. As a consequence, the colour market has become more competitive with margins reduced in many areas.

AMI forecasts that the current economic downturn, combined with a degree of maturity in the industry, will see the process of plant closures and industry consolidation accelerating in the next 18 months as weaker companies fail, while larger groups consolidate on a more limited number of manufacturing assets. There are around 130 companies manufacturing concentrates for the merchant market in North America, AMI said. The three largest producers, all multinationals, have a combined market share of around 28% of the USD sales and 34% of the sales by volume.

For more information, see "The Thermoplastics Compounding Market in NAFTA", 4th edition, AMI 2010, and "Corporate Performance and Ownership among Thermoplastic Concentrate Producers – A Review of America's 50 largest players", 2nd edition, AMI 2010, www.amiplastics.com

Contact: Regine Futter, Tel: +44 117 9249442, E-Mail: rfutter@amiplastics.com