Situation
A US-based solvent supplier was considering investing in a new refining process that would allow it to produce higher margin specialty solvents, and Freedonia Custom Research was asked to analyze the long-term potential for these products in order to validate the expense.
Approach
- Spoke with six key solvent suppliers to understand current supply and demand dynamics
- Conducted more than 40 in-depth interviews with solvent end-users and distributors within the client’s market region to determine any ongoing use of the client’s current product offerings and potential adoption of specialty solvents
- Developed demand estimates and forecasts, segmented by key end-markets, at both the national and regional level for the client’s current products as well as for the specialty solvents it looked to acquire
- Evaluated key end-markets for the specialty solvents, including regulatory barriers, product requirements, typical customer order size, and industry growth trends
- Analyzed current suppliers of the specialty solvents and any recent or planned capacity expansions
- Developed current and forecasted price estimates for both product types given the supply and demand landscape
Results
The Freedonia Custom Research team determined that the specialty solvents market was currently being oversupplied due to recent capacity expansions and weak demand, which were negatively impacting price. We also uncovered untapped opportunities for the client’s current product offerings. As a result of these findings, the client decided not to invest in the new equipment and instead pursue new markets for its existing products.