BALL CLAY MARKET ANALYSIS

Market Challenges And Opportunities

Market Restraints:

Availability of alternative filters is a prime factor expected to hinder the ball clay market growth. Plastics, rubber, fertilizers, insecticides, adhesives, and sealants are some of the fillers that can be broadly used as an alternative of ball clay.

High shrinkage property of ball clay is another key factor expected to restrict its adoption in construction industry. The drying time of the ball clay is extremely higher compared to the other clays.

Market Opportunities:

Increasing demand from non-ceramics application such as adhesives and sealant is expected to serve abundant opportunities for the players involved in ball clay market. For instance, according to the Coherent Market Insights, demand for adhesives and sealants in automotive is led by the increasing demand from the electric and plug-in vehicles during the forecast period. In 2019 the global plug- in vehicle deliveries reached 2,264,400 units, 9% higher than in 2018. This is a clear departure from the growth rates of the previous six years, which were between 46% and 69%. The plug-in sales increased to 3.24 million vehicles in 2020, compared to 2.26 million in 2019, which registered a staggering growth of 43%.

Growing focus of government for developing sanitation infrastructure in African countries is expected to create significant growth opportunities during forecast timeframe. For instance, Uganda is one of the poor economic countries. Kampala, the capital city, has a plan to set up 200 toilets by 2025, with the support from a German development agency, GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH). Thus, the developing economic situation in some of the African countries is projected to provide a better future for sanitation in the region. The countries, like Ethiopia, have been investing in development of sanitation facilities in the country.

Market Drivers:

Growing demand from construction industry it is widely used in wall and floor tiles application is primarily fuelling growth of the ball clay market. It is used for the manufacturing of wall and floor tiles because of its high plasticity and strength. Wall and floor tiles are used in various residential to commercial construction applications. Moreover, they are also used in swimming pools, bathrooms, kitchen, etc. Thus, rapid growth in the construction sector will favour the market growth over the forecast period.

Increasing demand from sanitary ware especially from Asia Pacific region is estimated to positively shape the market growth. A ceramic products for sanitary ware produced from ball clay offer excellent plasticity and workability. The sanitary ware generally composes 30% ball clay, 20% kaolin, 30% feldspar, and 20% quartz/silica.