Worldwide, the adhesive and sealant market grew 3% in 2003 over 2002 in spite of the economic recession affecting industrialized markets in North America, Japan and Western Europe. Contributing to this increase was the unprecedented growth of the emerging markets in the rest of Asia and a few economies in Eastern Europe. The outlook for 2003-2006 projects the industrialized markets growing moderately at or near GDP, while many of the emerging markets will grow at 4-7% per year. The period 2003-2006 will see an additional 845,000 metric tons (1,860 million pounds) of new adhesive and sealant product demand.
These and other detailed global trends are presented in The 3rd Edition of the Global Adhesive and Sealant Study, an Executive Market Trend Analysis, published by the partnership of Chem Research GmbH, Frankfurt, Germany, and DPNA International Inc., Troutman, NC.
The Far East region continues to show the greatest growth and has the most vibrant country markets. China has surpassed all other countries in per annum growth, which overall is estimated at 7% for the next three years.