In the recent few years, silicone and its compounds like decamethylcyclopentasiloxane and phenyl trimethicone in cosmetics are being used in different industries way more frequently. More and more industries have switched to purchase or develop their own silicone supply chains. Also, for many famous silicone products manufacturers & sellers, they have adjusted much on their business structures to be more efficient and effective in today’s changing business environment. One big feature of today’s global market is that the world’s total production amount of organic silicone materials is rapidly increasing due to the huge demands. It is according to the relevant studies, the total quantity number of siloxanes in 2004 is around 1.13 million tons which is double of the amount in 1995. The annual increment rate in manufacturing quantity is around 7%. The top 5 silicone companies have contributed more than 80% productions of silicones.
The Briefing of Silicone Industry History
It is more than half of a century since Dow Corning has developed the industrialization of organic silicone materials In 60s of 20th century the organic silicone materials were developed rapidly and started to have an escalation of industries; In 70s, more new organic silicone high polymers were developed and the numbers of kinds were also richer; In 80s, the increment of manufacturing quantity of silicone products turned to be 14%; In 90s, the silicone industry was already played an utmost important role in national economies.
Today’s main regional markets of silicone products like PDMS are Europe, the U.S. and Japan. The increment rate of manufacturing quantity of organic silicones will be around 7%~10% annually. As for the Asian market, the increment rate will be 12%. The consuming structures are: 40% are rubbers, greases, painting materials, fabrics, paper and cosmetics which are highly related to chemical industry; electronic items take 20%; Constructions of buildings have taken another 20%; the rest of 20% are for other industries.
To be more specific, the consumption level of organic silicones is closely relevant to the level of regional economic development. The U.S. is the largest manufacturing and consuming nation of silicone products, the amount is around 35% of the global amount. The second largest is Europe which is 33% while the third is Japan which is 15%. The differences are mainly due to the different industrial structures. For example, in Europe, silicone rubbers are mainly applied in constructions only. However, in the U.S. & Japan, silicone rubbers are also applied in electrics and automotive industries.
The Bright Future of Silicone Industry
The rapid increment in silicone products such as decamethylcyclopentasiloxane & polydimethylsiloxane will be continuously developed. In recent years, the increment rate of global organic silicone industry stays at a speed of 5%~8%, especially in automotive & construction industries. What is more, in Asia market (except Japan), the increment is as high as 12%~15%. In the developed regions like the U.S. and west Europe, the rate is 4% to 6% which is also higher than its increment rate of their GDPs. It is evident to see the strong trends of silicone industries.
One thing needed to point out is that the new increment of silicones are mainly in the increasing needs from cars, cosmetics and the relevant new chemical industries’ needs. Thus it is foreseeable that the long-term development of organic silicone products are focusing on the new developments of products on the basis of customers’ real needs.
Famous Companies in Silicone Industry
Dow Corning (or DC) is located in Michigan State which is in the central part of the U.S. It was merged by two companies which are Dow and Corning which are also the origins of its today’s name in 1943. DC is in the leading position of organic silicone materials and it sells more than 9000 product numbers to more than 25000 customers to fulfill their different needs. More than half of their annual sales are from the regions outside the U.S. DC is the world’s largest manufacturer of siloxanes which is the main product. More than 90% of sales amount of its products are siloxanes. DC has manufacturing factories in many different countries like Brazil, China, India, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand, The U.S and some nations in the west Europe (Belgium, France, Italy, Germany and the U.K.).
Momentive is a new company which is constructed after the General Electric was purchased. It is the second largest organic silicone product producer. The HQ of Momentive is located in Connecticut, one state of the New England states which are in the eastern coast of the U.S. The technologies are partly from the former General Electric and the GE still has 10% stakes of the new company.
Wacker Corporation is the first European siloxane manufacturer. It was founded in 1953 and the HQ is located in Munich of Germany. It makes a series of siloxanes, especially the ones for waterproof and applications in paintings. Wacker prefers to cooperate with other company when developing overseas markets. In 1998, it and Mtroark who is from India invest a new company named Wacker-Mtroark. In Asia, Wacker works with Dow Corning. They invest together to a new company. The warehouses are in Zhangjiagang, China.
ShinEtsu is Japan’s largest silicone manufacturer. Its career started in 1953. It is also the fourth largest silicone producer in the world. It has more than half of Japan’s silicone product market. It is located in Tokyo, Japan. It has overseas manufacturing branches in the U.S., west Europe, South Korea, Singapore, China and Thailand to produce products like hexamethyldisiloxane and octamethyltrisiloxane. ShinEtsu always produce metal silicone to ensure the quality from the stage of raw materials. Now it could produce more than 4000 types of organic silicone products and are widely used in electronics, electrics, automotive manufacturing, machine manufacturing, chemicals, textiles, food industry and building construction industry. The products above are also providing high add-on values.
Bluestar Company is a chemical producer from China. The company has purchased the French company Rhodia who used to be one of the top silicone product manufacturers. It is since that, Bluestar joins the organic silicone industry and soon becomes one the largest organic silicone manufacturers in the world.
Summary
Today’s organic silicone industries become more and more variety due to the different requirements and different industrial & economic structures of nations. Even though many markets are now controlled by several monopolies from traditional developed countries, there are still many new companies from many new developing nations (like the BRICS) come out with new technologies with ambitions and they have controlled several percentages of the global organic silicone market as well. It is since the urgent growing needs of organic silicone products, the competitions will still be hot but not extreme. As a good example of new materials, the silicone products will also have a bright future in the foreseeable near future.
