Isoprene Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

Key Highlights

• COVID-19 had a mixed market influence. The market demand for polyisoprene expanded dramatically as the need for healthcare ventilators increased. On the other hand, the market suffered a decline in demand from the tire industry due to lockdowns and travel restrictions. However, the market has picked up speed and will likely continue on this trajectory during the forecast period.
• The growing trends of electric mobility and autonomous driving are propelling the demand for innovative tire design and production, which tends to upsurge the growth of the isoprene market globally. However, strict control on synthetic chemicals used to make rubbers tends to increase the growth potential of substitute materials, which may limit the demand for isoprene in the next years.
• Isoprene's increasing application in a wide range of healthcare components is projected to present an opportunity for the market studied. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to dominate the market and is likely to witness the highest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the forecast period.

Isoprene Market Trends

Increasing Demand for Tires in the Automobile Industry

• The tire and tire components segment covers the highest market share in the isoprene market. Isoprene is widely used in the manufacturing of tires, owing to its properties, such as flexibility, tensile strength, and tear strength, making it the material of choice in the tire manufacturing sector.
• According to the US Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA), the total tire shipment in the US was around 342.1 million units in 2022, approximately 2% and 3% more than shipments in the years 2021 and 2019, respectively. The total tire shipment in 2021 was about 335 million units.
• The USTMA also stated that compared with 2021, original equipment (OE) shipments for passenger, light truck, and truck tires increased by 4.8%, 4.8%, and 7.8%, respectively, with a total increase of 2.5 million units.
• The European Tire and Rubber Manufacturers Association (ETRMA) represents roughly 4.400 enterprises in the EU, employing approximately 370.000 people directly. ETRMA corporate members account for 70% of total global sales and have a strong manufacturing and research presence in the EU and candidate countries, with 86 tire manufacturing units and 16 R&D centers.
• In its quarterly report for the third quarter of 2022, the ETRMA stated that a total of 58 million units of replacement consumer tires were sold , a 10% decline from the third quarter of the previous year. The overall sales for the year 2022 increased by 1%, which is estimated to be around 175 million units.
• According to the Bridgestone report 2023, the global tire production in 2021 was valued at approximately 1,780,000 tons, an increase of about 18% compared to the previous year. The key player in this market is Michelin, holding 14.8% of the market share, followed by Bridgestone and Goodyear, with 12.5% and 8.4%, respectively.
• Overall, all the aforementioned factors have impacted tire production, which is further expected to affect the neoprene market.

The Asia-Pacific Region to Dominate the Market

• The Asia-Pacific region dominates the global market share, as Asia-Pacific is the largest manufacturer of tires. In the Asia-Pacific region, countries such as India, China, Japan, etc., are the largest producers of the automotive industry, including cars and commercial vehicles.
• China is projected to produce 704 million tires per year by 2025, including 527 million passenger radial tires, 148 million truck/bus radial tires, 29 million bias truck tires, 20,000 extra-large industrial tires, 12 million agricultural tires, and 54,000 aircraft tires. In addition, China will produce 120.7 million motorcycle tires and 420 million bicycle tires annually by 2025.
• Japan possesses one of the largest rubber industries in the world, with a production volume of over 1.53 million metric tons of synthetic rubber in 2019. Furthermore, the country is ranked third in the world, only behind China and the United States, in terms of the total amount of rubber material consumed.
• According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the electric vehicles in China and Japan reached about 1.1 million units, and 0.04 million units, respectively, in 2019, whereas in 2020, IEA stated a global production of about 2.3 million units. The growing demand for innovative tires to provide enough support to autonomous and electric vehicles tends to increase the demand for isoprene.
• China has one of the largest healthcare sectors in the world. In 2019, the medical market reached CNY 7.82 trillion (USD 1.1 trillion), an increase of 10% compared to the previous year. Moreover, the country’s 13th five-year plan prioritized health and innovation, which is expected to increase investments in the medical device manufacturing sector during the forecast period. This, in turn, is expected to raise the production of high-tech medical equipment to treat chronic and age-related diseases in the country, which may increase the demand for isoprene in the coming years.
• The Indian government has started initiatives to decrease the imports of medical devices and increase the local production of medical devices, particularly higher-end products that include cancer diagnostics, ventilator systems, breathing separators, medical imaging, catheter, ultrasonic scans, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technologies.
• Due to all such factors, the market for isoprene in the region is expected to have a steady growth during the forecast period.

Isoprene Industry Overview

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