Urbanization and industrialization continue to develop, driving the growth of the asphalt market

Bitumen, commonly known as asphalt, is a black, viscous mixture of hydrocarbon residues obtained from petroleum distillation or naturally obtained asphalt. There is also naturally produced asphalt. Asphalt is mainly composed of hydrocarbons. It is black, shiny, toxic, smelly, and has anti-corrosion, insulation, plasticity and other properties. There are many types of asphalt production processes. According to their production and processing methods, they can be divided into: straight-run asphalt, solvent deoiled asphalt, oxidized asphalt, blended asphalt, emulsified asphalt, modified asphalt, etc.

Asphalt is often used in paving, construction, anti-corrosion, waterproofing and electrical appliance industries. For example, in road construction, it is often used as a binder and mixed with materials such as gravel or crushed gravel to produce asphalt concrete. In addition, due to its high viscosity, stickiness and water resistance, asphalt is often used to manufacture water tanks in the construction and industrial fields, and is an important raw material for building dams and bridges.

The asphalt market size was approximately USD 49.7 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 4.3% from 2021 to 2027. According to the “2022-2026 China Asphalt Industry Market Monitoring and Future Development Prospects Research Report released by the Industrial Research Center, due to Asphalt is strong, durable and easy to repair. Asphalt is often used as a binder to produce asphalt concrete in road applications. About 85% of the asphalt in the market is used in the construction of such projects. Asphalt is used in new construction and maintenance of roads and sidewalks, including in infrastructure areas such as airport runways, highways, overpasses and platforms.

​​According to different asphalt application fields, the global asphalt market is divided into roads, waterproofing, adhesives, insulation, etc. In 2020, asphalt accounted for the highest share in road applications, with the market size exceeding US$41.7 billion in the same year. In China, the government advocates the development concept of “to get rich, build roads first”. Building roads can save logistics costs, promote regional economic development, and improve people’s livelihood. With the rapid development of the national economy and the rapid industrialization of the country, the scale of national highway construction investment continues to expand, and the amount of road asphalt continues to grow, which will promote the growth of the asphalt market in the future. In addition, global car sales reached 77.62 million units in 2020, and are expected to reach 125.43 million units by 2027. The number of global cars is increasing year by year, especially in developing economies in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region, and the demand for road construction will rise significantly in the next few years. , thereby promoting the development of the global asphalt market.

IndustryAnalystssaid that with the rapid growth of the road and highway construction industry in the Asia-Pacific region, such as China and India, car ownership continues to grow and Urbanization continues to accelerate, driving the market demand for asphalt. It is expected that the asphalt market size in the Asia-Pacific region will exceed US$35 billion by 2027. In addition, investment in the expansion of industrial sectors in countries in the Asia-Pacific region has also had a significant impact on the development of the asphalt market.