The increasing need for weight reduction of end-user products, high bonding solutions, sustainable developments, growing tape demand, rising GDP and purchasing power, are all expected to drive the global pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSA) market to $8.4 billion by 2018. According to Research and Markets’ recent “Pressure Sensitive Adhesives Market by Technology, Application & Geography—Global Trends & Forecasts to 2018” report, India and China lead the world in terms of usage of PSAs due to heavy industrialization in these countries. Currently the largest markets for adhesives worldwide, these countries are expected to experience the highest revenue growth during the next five years.

Rising applications, current and emerging applications, and an increase in tapes and labels demand are reportedly the factors driving growth in the PSA market. In addition, demand for PSAs in applications such as RFID and clean room label is also high. Factors hindering the growth of this market are the fluctuating cost of raw materials, lack of technology infrastructure in developing countries, and huge investments in R&D.

The market is growing slowly in Europe, and is predicted to continue to grow at a significant rate in the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific region’s demand is driven by countries such as China, the fastest growing country in global PSA market. The PSA market is still in infancy stage in African markets; however, the region is experiencing high growth on account of increased infrastructure spending.

With the increase in demand of pressure-sensitive adhesives in automotive applications, the tapes segment will see a rise in the future. Specialty tape demand for varied applications such as marine, automotive, aerospace and electronics are expected to grow significantly due to the high capabilities of these tapes. In addition, growing health concerns will increase the demand for PSAs for medical applications such as surgical tapes, dressing tapes and sanitary napkins.

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