Future Market Insights (FMI), in its recent report titled, “Functional Films Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015 – 2020”, projects that market value of functional films will reach $27.32 Billion by 2020 at a CAGR of 4.92%.
Functional films are applied on fragile surfaces of sheet-type substrates to prevent damage by impact, scratches, etc. during transportation from production site to assembly site and also during assembly. The films also improve functionality and impart other novel properties to substrates and are widely used in Flat Panel Displays (FPDs), electronics and communications devices, and semiconductors.
According to FMI’s analysis, increasing urbanisation and rise in disposable income are some of the macro-economic factors driving growth of the global functional films market. Advancement and innovation in technology has also led to an increase in demand for functional films. Growth of the solar cells market has provided an impetus to the functional films market. Use of functional films in the automotive sector for window profiles, decoration, wheel arches, control arms, and steering knuckles has also augured well for the functional films market.
Increasing demand for functional films from the packaging sector is anticipated to fuel the functional films market during the forecast period. Functional films are gaining traction in the packaging sector owing to their features, such as enhanced resistance to water and oxygen. The global functional films market has been segmented into seven regions – North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Middle East & Africa, and Japan.
Among these regions, APEJ accounted for leading market share of 54.8% in 2014. Emerging economies, such as Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) and Latin America accounted for significant market share, which is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of 5.8% and 5.7% respectively over the forecast period.
Adhesive functional films segment dominated the global functional films market with 45.3% market share in 2014, followed by optical functional films with 42.4% market share, which is forecast to increase to 45.9% by 2020. Conductive functional films segment, on the other hand, is expected to register the highest CAGR of 8.9% during the forecast period.
