The Methanol Market Projected to Grow at a CAGR of 5.0% and Generate a Revenue of $54,630.4 million by 2030

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The global methanol market is predicted to be valued at $54,630.4 million by 2030, surging from $35,320.0 million in 2021, at a noteworthy CAGR of 5.0%.

Impact Analysis of COVID-19 on the Methanol Market

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to severe disruptions that have affected the demand, supply, import-export, and availability of methanol across end-use industries. Methanol is widely used across construction, chemicals, automotive, electronics, and other sectors. For instance, in automotive industry, it is used for the manufacturing of polyurethane dashboard foam, automotive paints, safety glass laminate, light lens, fuses, and others. However, the automotive industry was worst hit during the pandemic as the sales of automotive vehicles was drastically reduced. This has in turn affected the methanol demand in the automotive sector. Similarly, in the chemicals industry, methanol is used for the production of paints, adhesives, acetic acid, and others. However, the import-export restrictions, delay in the availability of raw materials, and travel restrictions led to supply chain disruptions in the methanol industry. All these factors have negatively affected the methanol market growth during the pandemic.

However, several initiatives launched by the Indian government are helping society to recover from pandemic. For instance, in January 2021, the Indian government established methanol economy research programme (MERP). This program aims to boost the production of methanol to meet the increasing energy demand in India and to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels.

Global Methanol Market Analysis

The popularity of methanol can be attributed to low emission of harmful greenhouse gases namely nitrous oxide, sulfur oxide, and carbon emissions. Owing to this, methanol is largely used as a marine fuel which is miscible in water, can effectively work with existing engine technologies, and it is a safe liquid fuel. Also, methanol can be produced from different feedstocks such as biomass, coal, and natural gas that leads to sustainability. The use of methanol in marine sector significantly reduces the dependence on gasoline-based fuels that have high carbon emission rates. Owing to these factors, net carbon neutrality can be achieved in the marine sector. These are the major factors anticipated to boost the methanol market share during the analysis timeframe.

However, the use of methanol results in high formaldehyde emissions that has carcinogenic effect on human body. In addition, availability of substitutes such as natural gas, propane, gasoline, and others is estimated to restrain methanol market growth. The capital expenditure such as the cost of natural gas, coal, and freight cost for the production of methanol is high which is anticipated to hinder the methanol market demand in the upcoming years. Also, for the production of methanol a dedicated infrastructure is required as it is toxic and corrosive that can hamper the market demand.

The use of methanol in hydrogen fuel cell is gaining huge popularity as hydrogen is clean fuel and emits only water upon combustion. Methanol is an efficient hydrogen carrier that can carry more hydrogen in one alcohol molecule. At ambient temperature, methanol is a liquid that can be easily stored and transported. Also, on-demand hydrogen can be generated with the use of methanol reformers that can eliminate high costs and complexity associated with logistics and supply. Furthermore, wide adoption of green hydrogen to lower the emission of toxic greenhouse gases is predicted to drive methanol market growth. This is because methanol is produced using renewable feedstock such as biomass that makes the use of hydrogen sustainable, affordable, and easy to handle.

Global Methanol Market, Segmentation

The global methanol market is segmented based on feedstock, end-use industry, and region.

Feedstock:

The feedstock segment is further classified into coal, natural gas, and others. Among these, the natural gas sub-segment is anticipated to have a dominant market share and shall surpass $23,522.9 million by 2030, with an increase from $14,951.2 million in 2021. Natural gas as a feedstock for production of methanol is quite popular and a quick process. For instance, use of natural gas for methanol production is a three-step process that involves synthesis gas production, converting syngas to crude methanol, and distillation of crude methanol to reach the desired purity. In addition, natural gas has low cost, offers energy security, has low risk of flammability, and can replace the use of gasoline-based fuels such as petrol and diesel.

End-use Industry:

The end-use industry segment is further classified into automotive, construction, electronics, appliances, paints & coatings, insulation, pharmaceutical, packaging, and others. Among these, the automotive sub-segment is anticipated to have a dominant market share and shall surpass $11,028.7 million by 2030, with an increase from $8,025.9 million in 2021. Methanol is majorly used for automotive manufacturing, and it can be used as a clean fuel in automotive sector. Methanol is used for the production of different automotive components such as tire core adhesives, fuses, distributor caps, body panels, paints, polyester carpet & fabric, safety glass laminate, gears, and others.

Region:

The methanol market in the LAMEA region is projected to show the fastest growth. This region’s market generated a revenue of $3,330.7 million in 2021 and is projected to reach up to $5,861.8 million by 2030. Some of the major factors driving the methanol market growth in the LAMEA region are increase in fuel pricing, growing energy security, and rising environmental concerns such as emission of greenhouse gases. Also, Israel has large offshore deposits of natural gas which is used as a feedstock for the production of methanol. In addition, Iran is planning to boost its production capacity of methanol to 36.71 mtpa by 2030 and it is planning to setup 24 methanol plants for the same. Middle East and GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) are promoting methanol fuel blending programs to boost he use of methanol as a fuel.

Key Players in the Global Methanol Market

Some of the leading methanol market players are

1. Celanese Corporation
2. BASF SE
3. Methanex Corporation
4. SABIC
5. Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS)
6. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc.
7. Valero, Mitsui & Co., Ltd.
8. Zagros Petrochemical Co.
9. Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Limited.

In October 2021, Methanex, the Canada-based leading supplier and distributor of methanol, established a strategic shipping partnership with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, the Japanese transportation firm. This partnership will offer multimodal shipping services to boost the commercialization of methanol.