WACKER will continue to profit from emerging markets and megatrends that promise further value increases and growth.

The EPIA (European Photovoltaic Industry Association) expects the market for photovoltaics to grow considerably over the next few years. Newly installed photovoltaic capacity should rise from 16.7 gigawatts (GW) in 2010 to 21.3 GW in 2011, and up to 44 GW in 2015. The EPIA anticipates particularly strong growth rates in the USA and China, and expects newly installed photovoltaic capacity to exceed 1 GW in six countries from 2011. Polysilicon production will continue to increase over the next few years as WACKER expands its capacity in line with other manufacturers. In 2011, global polysilicon production is expected to increase to over 200,000 tons, which could result in overcapacity in the market.

WACKER POLYMERS plays a major role in global environmental protection. It offers innovative thermal insulation products that strongly contribute to saving energy and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

"WACKER serves the fast-growing digitization trend by manufacturing silicon wafers for the semiconductor industry. Growth in the digitization market is subject to fluctuations in consumer demand within a complex supply chain. Over the last ten years, the market has grown by an average of 7 percent annually. However, such growth trends undergo frequent disruptions (dot-com crisis, financial crisis).

Experts at Gartner anticipate an average growth rate of around 4 percent annually for the period from 2011 to 2014. In particular, the share of 300 mm wafers is expected to rise. WACKER will benefit from this growth through production-capacity expansion at Siltronic’s facilities in Singapore."

The construction industry is rebounding after its crisis years – having emerged from its North American and European trough in 2010. Leading market-research institutes forecast that the pace of growth will still be greatly varied regionally during 2011.

According to a March 2011 report published by Global Construction Perspectives and Oxford Economics, global construction-sector growth is expected to outpace worldwide GDP expansion over the next ten years. During this period, the report estimates that total construction-related spending will reach $97.7 billion worldwide.

Expansion in China, India and the USA will account for over half of forecast growth in the sector until 2020, since the construction upswing is primarily fueled by population growth, rapid urbanization and strong economic performance. China already overtook the USA in 2010 and has thus become the world’s larg-est construction market.

Via its specialty-chemical products (e.g., polymers and silicones), WACKER can benefit disproportionately from this growth in select dynamic fields such as reno-vation and thermal insulation.

Thanks to its global presence, WACKER can also tap additional emerging-market opportunities, including new construction and infrastructure projects.

Source: www.globalconstruction2010.com (2011) und www.wallstreet-online.de "Wachstum in globaler Baubranche wird weltweites BIP in den nächsten 10 Jahren überholen" (3.3.2011)