Carbon Fiber Global Market Opportunities And Strategies To 2034

The carbon fiber market is segmented by type into virgin carbon fiber and recycled carbon fiber. The virgin carbon fiber (VCF) market was the largest segment of the carbon fiber market segmented by type, accounting for 92.20% or $4.7 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the recycled carbon fiber (RCF) segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the carbon fiber market segmented by type, at a CAGR of 16.39% during 2024-2029.

The carbon fiber market is segmented by raw material into polyacrylonitrile (PAN), petroleum pitch and rayon. The polyacrylonitrile (PAN) market was the largest segment of the carbon fiber market segmented by raw material, accounting for 88.99% or $4.53 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the petroleum pitch segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the carbon fiber market segmented by raw material, at a CAGR of 11.47% during 2024-2029.

The carbon fiber market is segmented by end-users into aerospace and defense, automotive, wind energy, pipes and tanks, sporting goods and other end-users. The aerospace and defense market was the largest segment of the carbon fiber market segmented by end-users, accounting for 43.62% or $2.22 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the automotive segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the carbon fiber market segmented by end-users, at a CAGR of 13.19% during 2024-2029.

The carbon fiber market is segmented by tow into small tow and large tow. The small tow market was the largest segment of the carbon fiber market segmented by tow, accounting for 69.19% or $3.52 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the large tow segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the carbon fiber market segmented by tow, at a CAGR of 11.14% during 2024-2029.

The carbon fiber market is segmented by application into composite materials, textiles, microelectrodes and catalysis. The composite materials market was the largest segment of the carbon fiber market segmented by application, accounting for 57.70% or $2.94 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the microelectrodes segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the carbon fiber market segmented by application, at a CAGR of 12.00% during 2024-2029.

Western Europe was the largest region in the carbon fiber market, accounting for 32.35% or $1.64 billion of the total in 2024. It was followed by North America, Asia Pacific and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the carbon fiber market will be Asia Pacific and Western Europe where growth will be at CAGRs of 12.23% and 10.31% respectively. These will be followed by Middle East and Eastern Europe where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 10.25% and 10.10% respectively.

The global carbon fiber markets is highly concentrated, with large players operating in the market. The top 10 competitors in the market made up 78.64% of the total market in 2023. Toray Industries Inc. was the largest competitor with a 13.50% share of the market, followed by Hexcel Corporation with 13.32%, Teijin Limited with 10.46%, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation with 9.49%, SGL Carbon SE with 5.85%, Formosa Plastics Corporation with 5.82%, Solvay S.A. with 5.60%, Hyosung Advanced Materials with 5.52%, ZOLTEK Corporation with 5.08% and Kureha Corporation with 4.00%.

This report describes and explains the carbon fiber market and covers 2019-2024, termed the historic period, and 2024-2029, 2034F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global carbon fiber market reached a value of nearly $5.09 billion in 2024, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.75% since 2019. The market is expected to grow from $5.09 billion in 2024 to $8.28 billion in 2029 at a rate of 10.20%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.18% from 2029 and reach $13.45 billion in 2034.

Growth in the historic period resulted from the rising aerospace industry, growing automotive industry and rise in demand for lightweight vehicles. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were lack of standardization in manufacturing technologies and limited supply chain and production capacity.

Going forward, growth in the construction industry, rising use of carbon fiber in wind energy, growing industrialization and rise in demand for sports and recreation equipment will drive the growth. Factor that could hinder the growth of the carbon fiber market in the future include price volatility of raw materials and regulatory & standardization issues.

The top opportunities in the carbon fiber market segmented by type will arise in the virgin carbon fiber (VCF) segment, which will gain $2.73 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The top opportunities in the carbon fiber market segmented by raw material will arise in the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) segment, which will gain $2.85 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The top opportunities in the carbon fiber market segmented by end-user will arise in the aerospace and defense segment, which will gain $1.42 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The top opportunities in the carbon fiber market segmented by tow will arise in the small tow segment, which will gain $2.09 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The top opportunities in the carbon fiber market segmented by application will arise in the composite materials segment, which will gain $2.05 billion of global annual sales by 2029.The carbon fiber market size will gain the most in the USA at $572.35 million.

Market-trend-based strategies for the carbon fiber market include focus on developing innovative solutions, such as carbon fiber reinforced polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), to enhance material performance in industries like aerospace, automotive and construction, focus on product innovations such as continuous carbon fiber materials to meet the growing industry demand, focus on adopting a strategic partnership approach for business expansion in the market and focus on adopting a strategic partnership approach for business expansion in the market.

Player-adopted strategies in the carbon fiber market include focus on strengthening its business operations through new launches, focus on launching new products to enhance its business offerings, focus on new launches to expand their business expertise and focus on new launches to expand their business expertise.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends the carbon fiber companies to focus on expanding high-performance composite applications in growth industries, focus on advancing continuous carbon fiber solutions for aerospace demand, focus on adopting advanced fiber engineering to strengthen market position, focus on targeted neurotoxin innovations to enhance treatment precision and broaden applications, focus on recycled carbon fiber for long-term growth, focus on polyacrylonitrile to strengthen market leadership, focus on small tow to leverage strong demand in high-performance applications, expand in emerging markets, focus on strategic partnerships to drive innovation and regulatory alignment, focus on competitive tiered pricing to maximize market penetration and margins, focus on targeted promotional campaigns to expand market reach, focus on data-driven marketing to optimize resource allocation, focus on automotive to capture fastest-growing demand and focus on microelectrodes to maximize high-growth niche expansion.

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