COVID-19 Economic Impact Report: Global Silicones

The global silicones industry is facing a number of challenges as it deals with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. How has the macroeconomic environment changed and what does it mean for the global silicones industry going forward?

COVID-19 Economic Impact Report: Global Silicones looks at how the expected impact of the pandemic on the current macroeconomic environment compares to other major events since 2000, including the bursting of technology bubble, the SARS outbreak, the 2009 global downturn, and the European financial crisis. It also provides a historical view of global industry sales since 2000, a look at how the industry is being currently impacted, and estimates for global industry sales through 2023.

For the purposes of this study, silicones are defined as polymers of silicon and oxygen. To avoid double counting, silicone demand is determined at the producer level and includes only basic products such as elastomers, fluids, resins, and gels:

• elastomers – including adhesives, sealants, and rubbers – which can be divided into three major categories – room temperature (RTV), high temperature/high consistency (HTV or HCR), and liquid (LSR) – for the purposes of this study
• fluids – such as emulsions, defoamers, and lubricants – which encompass both basic siloxane fluids and more specialized products such as organically functionalized fluids, fluorosilicone fluids, lubricants, and emulsions
• resins, which function exclusively as vehicles and binders in the formulation of various products, including paint and coatings (including release coatings and conformal coatings); pressure sensitive adhesives; sealants; industrial laminates such as varnishes for coating glass cloth; polishes; and cosmetics
• gels, which are produced by lightly crosslinking silicone fluids to form a loose, three-dimensional network, resulting in jelly-like material somewhere between a fluid and an elastomer

Siloxanes used as silicone products themselves (as in personal care product formulations) are also included.