May 2006
product throughout Asia. However, black is more
of a commodity product and in value terms the
leading producer is Ngai Hing Hong, which is the
country’s leading colour masterbatch producer and
also manufactures significant volumes of white
masterbatch. These products attract a higher pre-
mium than black masterbatch. Ngai Hing Hong
has the widest network of plants in China with
seven factories. The country’s leading white mas-
terbatch producer is Meilian Chemical based in
Guandong, which mainly supplies the blow
moulding industry, while Gunagdong Hengchang
Chemical Industry has the largest output of addi-
tive masterbatch.
The production of masterbatch in China is very
much concentrated in the hands of the leading
players, with 50 companies accounting for nearly
three-quarters of production for 2005. There are
probably several hundred other companies in
China manufacturing some masterbatch products
but most of these are very small-scale, unsophisti-
cated operators, AMI says. Of these 30 are pro-
ducing for the fibre industry.
It is also notable that the plastics industry in China
is improving its supply structure and demands
increasingly sophisticated products and raw mate-
rials. All of this has had an impact on the master-
batch industry, with companies becoming more
technically advanced and intelligent in their prod-
uct development. However, different sectors of the
local market are varied in their adoption of mas-
terbatch, with some applications continuing to
have a significant use of dry pigments and com-
pounds while others, particularly where products
are destined for export, have generally adopted the
use of masterbatch. Another feature of China’s
masterbatch industry is that most plants, even
those belonging to major international groups,
serve relatively local markets; logistical difficulties
as well as local regulations result in little long-dis-
tance masterbatch supply. This helps to explain
why some producers are developing networks of
more than one plant in order to serve the total mar-
ket. The main companies to have gone down this
route are Clariant, Ngai Hing Hong and PolyOne.
Contact: Applied Market Information, AMI House,
45-47 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3QP, UK; tel:
+44-117-924-9442; fax: +44-117-989-2128;
URL: www.amiplastics.com
Additives for Polymers
Wood-plastic composite growth
taking off in Europe…
The growth in sales of wood-plastic composite
(WPC) products in North America has been the
envy of European producers for ten years.
However, there are now signs that the European
market is slowly taking off, according to The
European Wood Plastics Composites Market
2006, a new report from UK-based consultancy
the Hackwell Group. According to the report,
European production of 99 288 tonnes in 2005 will
rise at annual growth rates just short of 10% to
nearly 145 000 tonnes per year in 2009, worth
about
290 million. Faster growth is likely to
occur if larger companies with more resources
enter the market. To put this in perspective, a
recent study from Freedonia (see p.10) suggests an
11% annual growth rate for the combined WPC
and plastic lumber sector in the USA to reach a
value of c.
3.0 billion in 2009, while a report last
year from Business Communications Co forecast
that the WPC market alone in North America
would reach 900 000 tonnes by 2009 [ADPO,
April 2005].
Made from mixtures of wood filler (typically
40–80%) and plastics, the outdoor durability of
WPC products is more like that of plastics than
wood, providing low outdoor maintenance costs
that offset their relatively high purchase price.
Products can also be extruded like plastics, without
expensive woodworking operations, and can be
co-extruded or veneered. One significant differ-
ence between Europe and the rest of the world is
in the resin matrix currently used. The most popu-
lar resin for WPCs in Europe is virgin polypropy-
lene, with four or five manufacturers also using
PVC; the global preference is for polyethylene,
often recycled.
The report highlights the considerable variety of
WPC products already available in Europe. The
automotive industry is easily the biggest user of
WPC in Europe at the moment, with well over half
the total consumption. The situation is very differ-
ent elsewhere and vehicles account for as little as
7% of WPC sales worldwide. Hackwell expects a
few European automotive supplier companies to
be diverted to natural fibres such as flax and hemp
in future. However, there is great scope for growth
in WPC sales in construction and furniture.
Decking has been by far the biggest engine of
9
Additives for Polymers
growth for WPC in the USA and the absence of a
strong European decking market has held the
WPC industry back there. Nevertheless, a number
of European countries are now showing interest in
decking, which had already become the leading
non-automotive WPC product in Europe by 2004.
Although few furniture products are available yet,
the number of companies developing furniture
components made of WPC is much greater than
when Hackwell published its first WPC report in
2003, and IPT in Germany has demonstrated the
rotational moulding of a WPC chair. Sales are also
expected in infrastructure applications normally
made of wood (such as highway sound barriers
and waterfront fixtures). Injection mouldings of
WPC will offer the advantages of a popular natu-
ral material and a much-reduced dependence on
oil-based resin for a wide variety of products.
The report says that it is not yet clear which of
many other applications will become firmly estab-
lished but siding or cladding, fencing and interior
construction items are contenders. The WPC win-
dow market in the USA is being developed but its
European equivalent is dominated by PVC and
already largely saturated. Improvements in the
strength of WPC can be expected over the next two
or three years to help its market penetration in a
number of areas. Technical standards are being
developed for WPC [ADPO, May 2005].
Leading European WPC manufacturers include
Tech-Wood, PPT, Polyplank, Kosche and
Deceuninck, among others. There is a growing
concentration of producers in German-speaking
countries. Several European companies offer WPC
in pellet form at under
1/kg. Hackwell finds that
the volume of imports of WPC from the USA,
China, Malaysia and elsewhere is not yet large,
and Europe has a small export trade so overall con-
sumption figures for Europe do not differ very
much from production figures.
Published in April, the Hackwell report costs

2240/$2915.
Contact: The Hackwell Group, UK; tel: +44-
1892-525576; fax: + 44-1892-683755; URL:
www.woodplasticcomposites.org
…while strong WPC growth
continues in the USA
In the USA, demand for wood-plastic composites
(WPCs) and plastic lumber is forecast to expand at
10
May 2006
11% annually through 2009 to US$3.8 billion (c.

3.0 billion). According to a new study from
Freedonia, Composite & Plastic Lumber (#2027),
moulding and trim will remain the largest end use
but will lose share to other applications, while res-
idential building will remain the top US market
during the forecast period.
Advances will result from increasing market pen-
etration of these alternative building materials, par-
ticularly in decking applications, which are
expected to account for more than one-third of
value demand in 2009. Performance characteris-
tics of these materials, such as durability and low
maintenance requirements, will cause more people
to adopt them for their decking projects, Freedonia
says. Advances for composite decking will also be
driven by increasing consumer and contractor
familiarity, a widening distribution network, and
product improvements that enhance appearance.
Any earlier Freedonia study, Wood & Competitive
Decking (#1991), forecast an annual US growth
rate for WPC decking of 15% between 2004 and
2009, accounting for some 16% by volume of the
total US decking market in 2009.
Plastic lumber will benefit from growing use in
fencing, while WPCs will achieve rising penetra-
tion in newer applications, such as fencing,
window and door components, and railroad ties.
Demand for both WPC and plastic lumber will be
aided by consumers’ efforts to reduce maintenance
associated with construction materials.
Moulding and trim was the largest end use for
WPC and plastic lumber in 2004, at about 45% of
the total. Demand from these applications is fore-
cast to rise at a healthy pace to $1.3 billion by
2009, almost all of which will be plastic lumber.
Gains will be slower than for most applications for
these materials, a result of the relative maturity of
this market, but will be significantly faster than
those for wood moulding and trim.
Among the major product categories, windows
and doors applications are anticipated to post the
fastest gains up to 2009 (but from a small base),
with demand expected to exceed $200 million. As
with other applications, WPC window and door
components are making inroads against wood,
metal and plastic materials because of their lower
maintenance requirements and similarities to
wood. Other applications such as playground
equipment, site and leisure furniture, hot-tub