Hand-Held Chemical and Metal Detector Market Report 2025

This Hand-Held Chemical and Metal Detector market report covers market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional and country breakdowns, competitive landscape, market shares, trends and strategies for this market. It traces the market’s historic and forecast market growth by geography.

The hand-held chemical and metal detector market size has grown rapidly in recent years. It will grow from $2.42 billion in 2024 to $2.74 billion in 2025 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.3%. The growth in the historic period can be attributed to security concerns and threats, counterterrorism measures, regulatory mandates and standards, increased illegal trafficking concerns, enhanced portability and user-friendliness, market competition and innovation.

The hand-held chemical and metal detector market size is expected to see rapid growth in the next few years. It will grow to $4.96 billion in 2029 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.9%. The growth in the forecast period can be attributed to emerging opportunities in developing regions, focus on cost-effectiveness and efficiency, development of lightweight and user-friendly devices, increased investment in security infrastructure. Major trends in the forecast period include regulatory compliance and standards, evolving threat landscape, environmental and operational adaptability, battery life and efficiency improvements, customization for industry-specific needs.

The increase in drug abuse is expected to propel the growth of the hand-held chemical and metal detector market. The use of certain chemicals to produce pleasurable effects on the brain is referred to as drug or substance abuse. To counter the rise in drugs and contain the transportation of drugs demand for chemical and metal detectors is increasing rapidly. Chemical detectors and chemical sensing chips have been created by scientists to test people for cocaine as rapidly as possible. The chip produced could be used in a portable hand-held chemical detector for detecting drugs in biological samples including blood, breath, urine, or spit. According to UNODC’s World Drug Report 2021, in 2018, nearly 269 million people used drugs, which increased to 275 million people by the year 2020. According to the report, the pandemic's increased unemployment and diminished prospects will disproportionately affect the poorest, rendering them more vulnerable to drug use, as well as drug trafficking and cultivation for profit. Therefore, an increase in drug abuse drives the hand-held chemical and metal detection market growth.

The rising demand for the chemical industry is anticipated to drive the growth of the hand-held chemical and metal detector market in the future. As a significant user of metal equipment and containers, the chemical industry must ensure the quality and safety of its products. Hand-held chemical and metal detectors are essential for identifying any metal contaminants that may have inadvertently entered the production process, helping the industry uphold its quality standards. For instance, in October 2023, a report published by Deloitte, a UK-based audit and consulting firm, noted that chemical output grew by less than 1% year-over-year in the first eight months of 2023. Additionally, the American Chemistry Council projected that capital spending in the U.S. chemical industry would remain relatively unchanged year-over-year in 2024, with expectations for growth of 3% to 4% annually in 2025-2026. Thus, the increasing demand for the chemical industry is driving the growth of the hand-held chemical and metal detector market.

Technological advancements are becoming increasingly prominent in the hand-held chemical and metal detector market. Key players in the industry are focusing on developing innovative products to gain a competitive edge. For example, in July 2023, a report from Smiths Detection, a US-based threat detection technology developer, revealed that the Swiss Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport ordered up to 1,200 Lightweight Chemical Detectors (LCD) to replace their existing fleet. The LCD is designed to detect toxic industrial chemicals and chemical warfare agents, providing critical warnings to personnel operating in high-threat environments. This upgrade aims to enhance operator safety and improve detection capabilities for various toxic threats, addressing the evolving global security landscape.

Major companies operating in hand-held chemical and metal detectors are focusing on developing support products and technology for hand-held chemical and metal detectors. Handheld chemical and metal detector companies are incorporating new calibrating and maintenance tools for chemical and metal detector offerings. For instance, in July 2022, Xometry a US-based on-demand industrial parts manufacturer, launched T4i FemtoMachine PRO a portable calibrator for hand-held chemical detectors. The apparatus is intended to generate vapour streams in the laboratory and outdoors that contain a specific concentration of chemical substances. To operate the calibration procedure, users only need to place a sealed permeation tube containing the desired substance into the compartment on the FemtoMachine, choose the concentration level at the output, and insert the tube.

In March 2023, Solenis a US-based chemicals manufacturer acquired Diversey for $4. 6 billion. The acquisition adds chemical detectors and overall cleaning and hygiene systems to the portfolio of offerings of solenis. Diversey is a US-based cleaning and hygiene company which offers chemical detectors.

Major companies operating in the hand-held chemical and metal detector market include OSI Systems Inc., Teledyne Technologies Incorporated, Smiths Group plc, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Bruker Corporation, Leidos, Garrett Metal Detectors, 908 Devices, Nuctech Company Limited, FLIR Systems Inc., Chemring Group plc, Morphix Technologies, DetectaChem LLC, Rapiscan Systems, Morpho Detection, Westminster International Ltd., Scanna MSC Ltd., Autoclear LLC, C. E. I. A. S. p. A., Fisher Research Labs, Kromek Group plc., Sibel Ltd., Mistral Security Inc., Ion Applications Inc., Environics Oy, Innova Security Systems Inc.

North America was the largest region in the hand-held chemical and metal detector market in 2024. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in the hand-held chemical and metal detector market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Africa. The countries covered in the hand-held chemical and metal detector market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK, USA, Italy, Canada, Spain.

Hand-held chemical and metal detectors refer to instruments that is used by narcotics and forensic departments to detect various chemicals and metals. Hand-held metal detectors are designed to quickly and accurately identify knives, weapons and blunt metal items. It is a good complement to fixed scanners because it gives greater mobility and freedom, whereas hand-held chemical detectors have been created to aid in the detection of contamination levels and locations. Chemically treated litmus paper, for instance, is used to detect the presence of chemical agents.

The main technology used in hand-held chemical and metal detector market are Raman spectroscopy, ion mobility spectrometry, metal identification and other technologies. The Raman spectroscopy is chemical analysis technique that is non-destructive and provides detailed information about chemical structure, phase and polymorphy, crystallinity, and molecular interactions. Raman spectroscopy is an excellent tool for examining potentially hazardous samples since it may detect hazardous compounds even if they are contained in plastic bags without disturbing the sample. These detectors are either fixed or portable and used in chemical detection, explosive detection, narcotics detection, and metal detection. The end-user includes military and defense, customs and borders industries, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, law enforcement, and the forensic department.

The hand-held chemical and metal detector market research report is one of a series of new reports that provides hand-held chemical and metal detector market statistics, including hand-held chemical and metal detector industry global market size, regional shares, competitors with a hand-held chemical and metal detector market share, detailed hand-held chemical and metal detector market segments, market trends and opportunities, and any further data you may need to thrive in the hand-held chemical and metal detector industry. This hand-held chemical and metal detector market research report delivers a complete perspective of everything you need, with an in-depth analysis of the current and future scenario of the industry.

The hand-held chemical and metal detectors market consists of sales of very low frequency (VLF) detectors, pulse induction (PI) detectors, and specialty detectors. Values in this market are ‘factory gate’ values, that is the value of goods sold by the manufacturers or creators of the goods, whether to other entities (including downstream manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers) or directly to end customers. The value of goods in this market includes related services sold by the creators of the goods.

The market value is defined as the revenues that enterprises gain from the sale of goods and/or services within the specified market and geography through sales, grants, or donations in terms of the currency (in USD, unless otherwise specified).

The revenues for a specified geography are consumption values that are revenues generated by organizations in the specified geography within the market, irrespective of where they are produced. It does not include revenues from resales along the supply chain, either further along the supply chain or as part of other products.

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