New Market Study on Asia

Published: October 01, 2003, By Corey M. Reardon, AWA Alexander Watson Assoc.

Asia represents one of the most dynamic and highest growth areas in the world, both for release liner and self-adhesive materials. While North America continues to dominate the world release liner market, and North America and Europe together make up 74% of global demand, Asia continued to grow in 2002 at the fastest rate — accounting for 22% of the market — mostly for self-adhesive applications (see Figure 1).

Future prospects for release liners continue to be robust, and there are longer-term opportunities throughout the value chain on all materials. The largest self-adhesive application in Asia is for label stock, which accounts for 68% of the self-adhesive market for release liners.

Of the release liners used in these label stock applications, 70% are estimated to be produced by in-house silicone coating. There are relatively few commercial silicone coating companies in the region compared to elsewhere, although the opportunities for commercial silicone coating companies are expanding.

The Asian market is characterized by its fragmentation and its challenging trading environment, and this new study presents hitherto unavailable data on this difficult-to-quantify marketplace.

Key Market Segments Detailed
“Asian Release Liner Market Outlook 2003: Market Overview and Opportunities for Silicone Coating Companies and Material Suppliers” covers both papers and films that are silicone-coated and which feature as separate release liners for self-adhesive and non-self-adhesive applications. The Asian release liner market uses direct coated paper liners, accounting for 44% of all materials employed. Polycoated papers (which retain the highest market share) and film liners account for 48% and 5% respectively.

The study identifies the key market segments for release liners in this dynamic, high-growth region, including label stock, graphic arts, tapes, hygiene, and medical. It evaluates material trends in terms of base papers and films, silicones, and raw material prices, as well as detailing current market structure and preferences. Present and future opportunities and threats also are examined within the context of the broader global release liner market.

The geographical focus of the study is Australia and New Zealand, China and Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. Japan is the largest geographical market in Asia, followed by China and Australia.

A detailed prospectus on “Asian Release Liner Market Outlook 2003” is available from AWA Alexander Watson Assoc.