Artificial Turf Market - Global Industry Growth, Forecasts and Trends (2018 - 2023)

“The success of hybrid grass is growing exponentially. Many more soccer and rugby leagues, internationally, are looking to improve the stadiums’ turf. New market requirements are in place from soccer and rugby organizers, the high involvement of TV broadcasting money and the demand from these broadcasting companies as well as a clear preference of professional players for natural grass surfaces, is driving the market. East European, Latin American and Asian nations have now started adapting hybrid grass, and the market is expanding in these regions. The technology itself gives much benefit to the field and helps in its easy maintenance, which is driving the market in these regions.”                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                                                                          -Marc Vercammen

                                                                                                                              General Manager, Tarkett Sports BV

Artificial turf grass is a surface made with synthetic fibers that look similar to natural grass. Owing to minimum maintenance and the growing demand for artificial turf from the sports and residential sectors, the market has high growth potential. The higher adoption rate is observed in key stakeholders of sports, for the use of artificial turf in various sports tournaments, such as FIFA and UEFA Champions League, among others.

The global artificial turf Industry, by value, was USD 2896 million in 2015, and is expected to register a CAGR of 10.8% over the forecast period, 2017-2022. By volume, the artificial turf market size is expected to expand during the forecast period. Europe occupies the largest market share, by volume. Currently, the market is highly competitive, and major firms are using the latest technologies to develop and introduce the best products in the market, to create a strong foothold.

High Adoption of Artificial Grass in Various Sports Tournaments

The artificial turf market is widely adopted, globally, for various sports events, as well as in residential buildings. The market is driven by rising awareness of low-maintenance landscape and recreation solutions, high adoption of artificial grass in various sports tournaments, and environmentally responsible maintenance with no wastage of water and agrochemical use. While there are many advantages of using artificial turf grass, some of the constraints that can hinder the market growth are –

• Non-biodegradable nature of artificial grass, which has to be dumped, after use,  in landfills
• Higher absorption of sun rays, which results in the heating up of surfaces with temperatures more than the atmospheric temperature, leading to heat burns
• Numerous health hazards related to their usage
• High cost of installation of the grass
• High maintenance (contradictory to the popular belief of low maintenance), as chemicals need to be applied to the turf grass regularly to maintain its warranty

The advancements in R&D, along with changing technologies and high return on investment, is the major area of opportunity for the market growth. Major players are adopting strategies to develop the best products through technology and innovations.

Market Segmentation

The market is segmented, based on the usage of turf grass, into contact sports, hockey, tennis, other sports, and leisure, and landscape. Use of turf grass for contact sports, such as soccer, football and rugby, occupies the largest market share, followed by its use for leisure. The market share for other sports is relatively small. 

By geography, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, South America, etc.; Europe is the largest market for artificial turf. As per a survey conducted by the European Synthetic Turf Organization, majority of soccer coaches in Europe prefer training players on synthetic turf, which helps them develop their skills. Asia is a growing market for artificial turf.

Major Players: Tarkett Sports BV, SIS Grass, FieldTurf, Polytan, Dow Chemical Company, GreenFields, Grass Tex, ActGlobal, Challenger Industries, Inc., and DuPont, among others.

Recent Industry Insights

Artificial grass is used widely in various sports tournaments. The artificial pitches produced by SportsGroup were used at the 2016 Rio Olympics. In 2016, SportGroup Holding® announced that it had agreed to purchase its US rivals, AstroTurf® and SYNlawn®, along with their associated manufacturing facilities. By adding AstroTurf and SYNlawn to its existing portfolio of companies and brands (which include Polytan®, APT®, Melos®, Rekortan®, Laykold® and Poligras®), SportGroup is on the path to becoming one of the largest and highest quality outdoor sports surfacing companies in the world. Though artificial surfaces are preferred in sports tournaments, their use was highly criticized in the 2015 Women’s Soccer World Cup held in Canada, due to the heat they generated.

The FIFA World Cup Final in Russia, 2018, will be played on a mixture of natural grass and artificial fiber, with the technology from SIS Grass. The market for artificial surfaces has high scope, due to technological advancements, in the coming years.

Reasons to Purchase the Report

• Identify the dominating and fastest-growing regions in the global artificial turf market and their growth trends during the forecast period
• Analyzing various perspectives of the market with the help of Porter’s five forces analysis
• To understand the regions that are expected to witness fastest growth during the forecast period
• Identify the latest developments, market shares, and strategies employed by the major market players
• 3-month analyst support, along with the Market Estimate sheet (in Excel)

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