An accurate estimate of the world market for additives for polymers is difficult to arrive at, because the figure depends very much on what is defined as an 'additive'. There are as many different estimates as there are forecasters. Most tend to limit the field to the so-called 'performance' additives - such as plasticizers, lubricants, stabilizers, flame-retardants and anti-static agents - that confer a specific property or protection on the compound. This excludes fillers and pigments, and it would be fine, were it not that increasingly significant portions of these are now also developed and marketed as 'performance' fillers or pigments, special carbon blacks or titanium dioxides. So it is not surprising that there is some difference in estimates, arising to some extent from such overlaps.
Trying to find some common ground between the best forecasts suggests that the world additives market amounts to about 7.6 million tonnes, valued at about $15 billion, and growing overall at about 3.5-4% per year.