Future of Release Liners Examined at AWA’s Global Release Liner Industry Conference

By Corey M. Reardon

Market data

Opening the formal conference proceedings, Conference Chairperson Corey M. Reardon, president and CEO of market research consultants AWA Alexander Watson Associates BV, provided the first keynote address—his company’s global update on the release-liner market as a whole. North America is still the largest market at 37 percent, he said, with Europe in second place at 30 percent—but across nearly all applications, these are mature markets, and growth is slowing. Asia Pacific’s current share, 25 percent, is, however, likely to increase significantly. Annual growth of nearly 10 percent means that this region will soon overtake the traditional market leaders in terms of volume usage (Figs. 1 and 2 below).