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Growing Demand From Home and Fabric Care Segment Fuels Increased Uptake of Specialty Ingredients

Posted on: Monday, 4 December 2006, 09:01 CST

LONDON, December 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Increasing demand from the home and fabric care market is driving growth of specialty ingredients in Europe. The rise in demand for products that enhance performance will accelerate the use of specialty ingredients, which deliver optimum performance and convenience.

Frost & Sullivan (http://www.chemicalsandmaterials.frost.com/) finds that the European Markets for Home Care Ingredients earned revenues of EUR445.0 million in 2006 and estimates this to reach EUR579.3 million in 2013.

"Although specialty ingredients have a narrower spectrum of uses in comparison to commodity ingredients, their use in various household and fabric care products is witnessing growth," notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Ms. Niranjana Ganesh. "Increased R&D initiatives, product innovation and the adoption of a collaborative approach with home care companies are other factors strengthening the market for specialty ingredients."

Specialty ingredients are finding application in products such as dishwashing liquids, floor cleansers, sanitary cleansers, glass or window cleansers, as well as oven and metal cleansers. Companies in the home and fabric care market rely greatly on research-driven specialty chemical suppliers to provide them with new and more efficient ingredients for their products. With increasing emphasis on cleanliness and hygiene, the market for home care ingredients offers tremendous growth potential to chemical manufacturers.

However, a major factor hampering the growth of specialty ingredients in the market is the rising price of feedstock, which serves as raw material. Small producers in Europe that are not backward integrated into raw materials are faced with high feedstock costs and staggering demand.

"Strong demand in the market, combined with rising energy and raw material prices, is compelling ingredient suppliers to raise prices of specialty ingredients supplied to the home care market," remarks Ms. Ganesh. "This has resulted in intense competition, thereby emphasising the need to boost innovation and accelerate product development."

Specialty ingredient suppliers will need to pursue product development as a corporate-level growth strategy to develop new products for existing customers. Products placed in the market should meet price constraints, while still seizing a favourable market share.

Continuous innovation and focus on R&D will become important to create differentiation and gain a competitive edge. R&D should focus on new benefits and novel product forms. As such products can be easily copied by competitors, identifying new benefits that innovative specialty ingredients can add to home care products will become essential.

In view of the mature nature of the market, joint venture projects are considered a vital strategy for the development of breakthrough, consumer-noticeable, differentiating technologies. A collaborative approach will become critical to achieving market success.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants with an overview of the latest analysis of the European Markets for Home Care Ingredients, please send an e-mail to Janina Hillgrub, Corporate Communications, at janina.hillgrub@frost.com with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, e-mail address, city, state, and country. We will send you the information through email upon receipt of the above information.

European Markets for Home Care Ingredients is part of the Chemicals and Materials Subscription, which also includes research in the following markets: performance ingredients, fabric enhancers, fluorescent whitening agents, ingredient protectants, rheology modifiers. All research included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants. Interviews with the press are available.

Background

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community, by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit http://www.frost.com/.

Frost & Sullivan Chemicals and Food Group is the strategic market consultant delivering insight and understanding to support business growth internationally. We identify and analyse the critical market challenges companies must address to become successful competitors in their industry. Our work is focused on these challenges in order to provide our clients with market strategies that enable them to increase revenues, market share and profitability.

The Group continuously monitors a comprehensive spectrum of chemical and food markets for trends, market measurements and strategies, and delivers powerful data via research publications, bespoke market intelligence projects and customised consulting.

Our team of expert analysts is structured around four key areas: Food Speciality Chemicals Fine Chemicals Performance Materials Media Contacts: Europe: Janina Hillgrub Corporate Communications P: +49-(0)-69-770-33-11 E: janina.hillgrub@frost.com Americas: Trisha Bradley Corporate Communications P: +1-210-247-3870 E: trisha.bradley@frost.com Asia Pacific: Donna Jeremiah Corporate Communications P: +603-6204-5832 E: djeremiah@frost.com India: Surbhi Dedhia Corporate Communications P: +91-22-2832-4705 Ext: 131 E: sdedhia@frost.com Australia: Sharmin Jassal Corporate Communications P: +61-2-8247-8900 E: sjassal@frost.com

List of key industry participants: Cognis, BASF, Degussa, Rhodia, Rohm and Haas, Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Albemarle, Lonza, Uniqema, Synprotec DCR Ltd., Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd, Whyte Chemicals Ltd., Clariant, Croda, Bochemie S.R.O, Brenntag, Tessenderlo Group, Alco Chemical, 3V Sigma, Akzo Nobel

Wacker Chemie, Sasol, Seppic, Stepan, Noveon, Banner Chemicals, Alfa Chemicals, Univar, Lansdowne Chemicals

List of keywords in this press release: Europe, specialty ingredients, home and fabric care, home care ingredients, dishwashing liquids, floor cleansers, sanitary cleansers, glass or window cleansers, oven and metal cleansers, specialty chemical suppliers, feedstock, home care product, research, information, market, trends, technology, service, forecast, market share

Frost & Sullivan

CONTACT: Media Contacts: Europe: Janina Hillgrub, CorporateCommunications, P: +49-(0)-69-770-33-11, E: janina.hillgrub@frost.com;Americas: Trisha Bradley, Corporate Communications, P: +1-210-247-3870, E:trisha.bradley@frost.com; Asia Pacific: Donna Jeremiah, CorporateCommunications, P: +603-6204-5832, E: djeremiah@frost.com; India: SurbhiDedhia, Corporate Communications, P: +91-22-2832-4705 Ext: 131, E:sdedhia@frost.com; Australia: Sharmin Jassal, Corporate Communications, P:+61-2-8247-8900, E: sjassal@frost.com

Source: PRNewswire

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