The global agricultural surfactants market is estimated to garner a revenue of around USD 3 Billion by the end of 2033 by growing at a CAGR of ~7% over the forecast period, i.e., 2023 – 2033. Further, the market generated a revenue of around USD 2 Billion in the year 2022. The growth of the market can be attributed to the rising demand for food and higher cases of death related to hunger and undernourishment. Around 3 million children die each year as a result of malnutrition and hunger. That represents over half of all fatalities among kids under the age of five. Moreover, nearly 113 million of the world's 822 million undernourished people are suffering from acute hunger, meaning they have a desperate need for food and nutrition.
In addition to these, factors that are believed to fuel the market growth of agricultural surfactants include the rising investment in agriculture-related research and development. An increase in R&D initiatives to produce new products and goods is estimated to promote the growth of the market. As per Economic Research Service 2019, the total public agricultural R&D spending in the U.S was USD 5.16 billion. Besides this, the growing demand for non-ionic surfactants is estimated to boost market growth. The use of surfactants decreases surface tension thereby increasing the efficiency of irrigation through increasing moisture retention. The application of non-ionic surfactants increased the irrigation profit by 20%.
Base Year |
2022 |
Forecast Year |
2023-2033 |
CAGR |
~7% |
Base Year Market Size (2022) |
~ USD 2 Billion |
Forecast Year Market Size (2033) |
~ USD 3 Billion |
Regional Scope |
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Growth Drivers
Elevating Demand for Food – The agricultural surfactants increased the efficiency of the soil and improves the water penetration into the land, which in turn improves the allover production of food. The increasing population across the world is rising the shortage of farming land, thereby elevating the demand for food. It is estimated that global demand for food will reach 60%-100% by 2050.
Scarcity of Agricultural Land – The scarcity of land has been increasing, therefore to improve the fertility of leftover land is important. The number of lands for agriculture in the U.S reached 2,012,050 farms in 2021, with a decrease of 6,950 farms from 2020 as per the estimations.
Increase of Various Crop Diseases – surfactants are used as a microbial and pathogen elimination in plants and increase the availability of nutrient for them. As per the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 20-40% of the crop across the world is lost to pests each year.
Offers Low Toxicity to Plants – Agricultural surfactants have low concentrations of toxicity, that preserve the nutrients of plants, and are not harmful to humans and animals on consumption. Bio-surfactants are proved to be safe at concentrations equal to or less than 0.25 mg/ml.
Increasing Production of Bio-Surfactants – The rising production of bio-surfactants is likely to boost the market growth. The sales of bio-surfactants in 2018 were USD 2 billion with about 440 thousand tons and are estimated to reach USD 3 billion in 2023.
Challenges
The global agricultural surfactants market is also segmented and analyzed for demand and supply by crop type into cereals & grains, and fruits & vegetables. Amongst these two segments, the fruits and vegetables segment is expected to garner a significant share at the end of 2033. The growth of the segment is attributed to the rising need to produce more fruits and vegetables. At this time, the globe produces too many grains, fats, and sugars while producing insufficient amounts of fruits, vegetables, and protein to meet the nutritional needs of the population. Moreover, the world needs to boost the production of fruits and vegetables by 3 times, in order to compete the growing demand. On the other hand, low consumption of fruits and vegetables leads to various health problems that also boost the need for fruit and vegetables. Eating too little fruit and vegetables contributes to roughly 14% of all deaths from gastrointestinal cancer worldwide, 11% of deaths from ischemic heart disease, and 9% of deaths from stroke.
The global agricultural surfactants market is segmented and analyzed for demand and supply by application into herbicides and fungicides. Out of which, the herbicides segment is anticipated to hold the largest market size by the end of 2033 on the back of the improvement of spray droplet absorption and penetration of active contents into the plant foliage is estimated to fuel the market growth. The addition of adjuvants such as surfactants to the spray solution will change the density and viscosity of droplets thus improving the penetration and wettability of the plants which directly impacts the evaporation rate of droplets. As per the observations, the density of glyphosate solution is increased by 2% with the addition of synthetic adjuvant when compared to glyphosate alone.
Our in-depth analysis of the global agricultural surfactants market includes the following segments:
By Type |
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By Application |
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By Substrate Type |
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By Crop Type |
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The North American agricultural surfactants market, amongst the market in all the other regions, is projected to hold the largest market share by the end of 2033. The growth of the market can be attributed majorly to the government initiatives to increase the crop yield in order to provide a constant supply of raw materials for food, feed, and biofuel industries. It is observed that 40% of corn from the U.S ends up in the production of biofuel. Besides this, proactive government efforts to boost the production of fertilizers is also expected to augment the market growth. Tom Vilsack, secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), announced that the Biden-Harris Administration allocated USD 500 million in grants available to boost fertilizer production in the United States in an effort to encourage competition and reduce price increases for American farmers brought on by the conflict in Ukraine.
The Asia Pacific agricultural surfactants market, amongst the market in all the other regions, is projected to hold the significant market share by the end of 2033. The market growth in the region is attributed to rising need for more food production in the region. India is ranked 107th out of 121 countries in the 2022 World Hunger Index, six places lower than its previous position and below countries like Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Moreover, the few elements that are anticipated to raise the demand for food in the future are the confluence of an increase in low-income settlements, growing food prices, and the necessity of building an urban food agenda.
BASF SE signed two partnerships to strengthen its place in bio-surfactants and actives market. The alliance made with Allied Carbon Solutions Co., Ltd helped BASF to increase consumer demand for safe natural products and Holiferm Ltd will help BASF to develop various glycolipids with fermentation-derived ingredients.
Wilbur-Ellis Holdings, Inc. introduced EMBRECE-EA, a unique combination of surfactants developed to improve the efficiency of fungicides, insecticides, and miticides. This will provide cultivators a premium coverage and high wetting of spray material on the leaf surface.
In 2023, market players might incur losses due to huge gap in currency translation followed by contracting revenues, shrinking profit margins & cost pressure on logistics and supply chain.
Controlling Inflation has become the first priority for global economies from last quarter of 2022 and to be followed in 2023. With skewed economic situations, rise in interest rate by governments to control spending and inflation, spiked oil and gas prices, high inflation, geo-political issues including U.S. & China trade war, Russia-Ukraine conflict to intensify the global economic issues.
The interest rates in the U.S. may be less sensitive in 2023 as compared to 2022; sigh of relief for businesses. Positive business sentiments, healthy business balance sheets, growth in construction spending (private construction value in 2022 stood at $1,429.2 billion, 11.7 percent (±1.0 percent) above the $1,279.5 billion spent in 2021, Residential construction in 2022 was $899.1 billion, up by 13.3 percent (±2.1 percent) from $793.7 billion in 2021, non-residential construction touched $530.1 billion, 9.1 percent (±1.0 percent) above the $485.8 billion in 2021.) showcases minimal impact of recession in the country.
Similarly, spiked spending in the European and major Asia economics including, India, China & Japan to showcase less impact on the global demand.
Author Credits: Smruti Ranjan, Rajrani Baghel
Ans: Increasing demand for food, rise in the amount of crops getting infected by diseases, low toxicity of surfactants, lack of agricultural lands and rising production of bio-surfactants are the major factors driving the market growth.
Ans: The market is anticipated to attain a CAGR of ~7% over the forecast period, i.e., 2023 – 2033.
Ans: Use of genetically modified seeds and limited use of chemicals and pesticides are estimated to be the growth-hindering factors for the market expansion.
Ans: The market in the North American region is projected to hold the largest market share by the end of 2033 and provide more business opportunities in the future.
Ans: The major players in the market are BASF SE, AkzoNobel N.V., Solvay Group, Wilbur-Ellis Company, Croda International Plc., The DOW Chemical Company, Evonik Industries AG, Huntsman Corporation, Nufarm Limited, and Helena Agri-Enterprises, LLC.
Ans: The company profiles are selected based on the revenues generated from the product segment, geographical presence of the company which determine the revenue generating capacity as well as the new products being launched into the market by the company.
Ans: The market is segmented by type, application, substrate type, crop type, and by region.
Ans: The herbicides segment is anticipated to garner the largest market size by the end of 2033 and display significant growth opportunities.
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