Dry Strength Resin Market Report: Trends, Forecast and Competitive Analysis to 2035

Dry Strength Resin Market

The future of the global dry strength resin market looks promising with opportunities in the paper and paperboard markets. The global dry strength resin market is expected to reach an estimated $2.1 billion by 2035 from $1.4 billion in 2027 with a CAGR of 7.6% from 2027 to 2035. The major drivers for this market are increasing demand for packaging materials, growth in the paper and pulp industry, and rising emphasis on sustainability.

• Lucintel forecasts that, within the type category, cationic is expected to witness the highest growth over the forecast period due to strong bonding affinity with negatively charged cellulose fibers.
• Within the application category, paper is expected to witness a higher growth over the forecast period due to rising paper production and packaging material demand.
• In terms of regions, APAC is expected to witness the highest growth over the forecast period due to expanding paper and packaging manufacturing capacity across APAC.

Emerging Trends in Dry Strength Resin Market

From 2025 to 2027, the dry strength resin market is anticipated to shift toward high performance, regulatory compliance and process improvement. Recycling-fibre content and tighter chemical restrictions have put process engineers in the paper industry under greater scrutiny. From 2025 to 2027, the designers of structures made from packaging, tissue and other industrial paper are expected to be more receptive to the use of novel, high performance dry strength resins and other chemical additives as a result of improved process control and regulation compliance.

• from A Sustainability Perspective: Demand for environmentally friendly and recyclable paper structures has increased with the implementation of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation for 2025 and beyond. Currently, mills are investigating various bio-based and other formaldehyde-free dry strength resins. From 2025 and beyond, it is expected that brand owners will require the use of dry strength resins and other paper mill additives with a clear sustainability and environmental profile.
• from A Performance Perspective: The use of recycled fibres in paper structures has resulted in a loss of drainage and tensile strength and has created a market requirement for resins that improve tensile strength and drainage.
• Process Automation: Paper mills are using online sensors and predictive maintenance to stabilize furnish changes and control resin use. Automated processes can help reduce variations in high-speed processes. Application data and process digital support by resin suppliers will improve customer retention in next 3-5 years. Variability in automated systems will help reduce yield discrepancies in chemical processes.
• Supply Chains: Mill and converter disruptions of 2020 have encouraged use of local and secondary chemical suppliers. In 2025-2027 mills in Asia-Pacific and Europe will give equal consideration to all 3 elements of marketing mix (Price, Product and Place) like dual sourcing.
• Premium: The new requirements in packaging like e-commerce, have led to an increase in use of high strength and high-quality grades and an increase in use of high durability corrugated grades, which in turn has led to use of specialized high-performance resins. Use of high-performance resins helps in removal of fibre and improves profitability of paper mills.

Chemical suppliers must be efficient in use of raw materials, helps in production of sustainable and high-performance paper, and helps mills in achieving their goal of higher total machine economics and profitability.

Recent Developments in the Dry Strength Resin Market

Activity in the dry strength resin market is expected to increase by 2025-2027 as paper manufacturers aim to produce lighter weight paper with a higher strength recovery. Lucintel expects long-term sustained investment by chemical manufacturers. Leading suppliers will focus on bio-based raw materials, regional locations and relationships with paper mills.

• Capacity Expansion: Leading paper chemical suppliers have recently announced plans for increased capacity. In February 2025, Kemira announced a 70 million Euro investment to expand their chemical and water treatment capacity at their Goole, UK location. It is expected that the expanded capacity will reduce the transportation distance to supply dry strength resins to mills in Europe.
• Bio Based Technology Launch: In April 2025, Solenis announced the launch of bio-based grades of dry strength resins. The first commercially available bio-based grades of dry strength resins will target paper and board used in consumer packaging and facial tissue. In order to meet the goals of paper and board mills to produce packages with a lower fossil content, bio-based dry strength resins and other paper chemical additives will need to be commercially available.
• Strategic Partnership: In June 2025, Kemira and a large European paper and board mill announced a partnership to further develop dry strength resin technologies for improved strength in containerboard. They also announced joint efforts to create a commercial containerboard grade with a lower overall basis weight than currently available.
• Acquisition Activity: Consolidation in the specialty chemical industry continued with the acquisition of Huntsman's Textile Effects Business by Archroma in February 2025. With this acquisition, Archroma broadened its portfolio and raised the competitive threat to the dry strength resin suppliers. While dry strength resins are used in several markets, the effect of the M&A activity is more pronounced in the paper market.
• Mill Modernization: In January 2025, International Paper announced a $300 million investment to enhance its North American Packaging mills. With this investment, International Paper is expected to produce a greater volume of higher quality fiber and paper grades. Improved grades of paper and fiber create greater opportunities for the use of dry strength resins.

Although regulatory changes are expected to decrease the use of dry strength resins, customer requirements and regulations will strengthen, creating a situation where superior formulation will be rewarded. Suppliers with regional facilities and the ability to achieve significant mill savings will be best positioned to capture new opportunities.

Strategic Growth Opportunities in the Dry Strength Resin Market

Research shows that paper industry clients will have increased demand for lightweight, recyclable packages between 2024 and 2026. Simultaneously, there will be a reduced requirement for residual chemicals. Regulations will also push clients to use more recyclable packages. Lucintel predicts that areas where competitive advantage can be derived from resin formulation, application, and service will be more strategically important.

• Recycled-fibre Packaging: Increasingly stringent regulations and demand for lighter, more recyclable packages create opportunities for dry strength resins in corrugated and other recycled cartons. Converters will benefit from dry strength resins that increase bonding performance of fibre combinations.
• Food Contact Paper: Use of dry strength resins in food contact paper will increase over the forecast period. In January 2025, the EC stated that food contact materials continue to be regulated by 2004/19/EC. Resins that meet the requirements of this regulation will be premium priced when produced by mills serving the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) market.
• Local Technical Support and Smaller Pack Resin: Demand is growing for these in countries like India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Barriers to entry are low for setting up paper conversion facilities in these regions and local paper consumption is increasing. Industry estimates put total paper and paperboard production in India at 23.5 million tons for 2024. To expand in this region, companies need to simplify their offerings.
• Bio-based Resins: More and more brand owners are releasing goals and targets related to carbon. Bio-based resins can gain market share as they offer a means to achieve carbon neutrality for mills without large-scale capital expenditures. The revised Renewable Energy Directive of the EU is encouraging the use of bio-based products and will be in force until 2030.
• Digital Resin Services: Mill automation and the use of sensors offer an opportunity for companies to sell digital services. Connected dosing will offer better process control and reduce waste. Suppliers should focus on long-term retention as digitization of processes will reduce the need for adjusting resin dosages.

In order to increase profits, resin suppliers must look for ways to better mill operations and focus on long-term retention. Suppliers that can differentiate themselves from the competition with products that address food contact and recycling needs will be most successful. Digital resin dosing and services will reduce the need for mill personnel to adjust resin levels and offer an opportunity for a recurring-revenue business model.

Dry Strength Resin Market Drivers and Challenges

Various factors like innovations, the economy, politics, the environment, and regulations affect the dry strength resin market. The package board industry is gaining acceptance for the use of dry strength resins to manufacture stronger and lighter weight packages. Also, there is a focus on developing packages that are recyclable. There are other positive long-term trends for the market. Lucintel has identified the important long-term trends as performance and efficiency in manufacturing, and sustainability. Other negative factors affecting the market include variations in the price of raw materials, and the level of regulation that affects the chemicals industry. Suppliers that can manufacture products that meet the above requirements and also incorporate bio-based raw materials would be able to gain market share.

The factors responsible for driving this market include:

• The Demand for Sustainable Packaging: The growth in e-commerce, food delivery and other forms of retail trade has increased the need for packaging. Dry strength resins allow manufacturers to reduce the weight of raw material used in the production of packages and still maintain the strength of the package. The EU Packaging directive sets targets for the recyclability of packaging and the reduction of packaging waste between 2025 and 2030. The goals are expected to increase the demand for fibre-based packaging. Sustainability and other packaging related goals are expected to increase the use of resins in the paper and other packaging industries in the next five years.
• Improvement in Resin Technology: New polymer systems allow the improvement of the strength of papers, and reduce the number of resins required to strengthen papers. A large number of paper manufacturers have recently completed or are in the process of completing the testing of new resins to assess their effectiveness in maintaining the strength of papers containing a large proportion of recycled fibres. Improvements in performance of resins and decreases in the costs of producing papers will increase the use of resins in the next five years.
• Rising Use of Recycled Fibers: Specific customer requirements, as well as Federal and state regulations, drive mills to increase the use of recycled content fibres, thereby creating a need to use dry strength resins. In January 2025, several mills in Europe produced packaging with 80% recycled fibres. The use of recycled fibres for corrugated cases, cartons, and paper bags is increasing. In the next 3 to 5 years, greater use of recycled fibres in packaging is expected, increasing the demand for dry strength resins to ensure adequate strength of the packages.
• Increase in E-Commerce and Use of Corrugated Packaging: The increase in online shopping has created greater demand for all forms of shipping and protective packaging. In April 2025, it is estimated that those 160 billion shipments occurred worldwide each year. The use of strong paper in packaging allows a significant reduction in the weight of shipping packages. Stronger paper also allows packages to withstand greater shipment and transportation stress. In the next 3 to 5 years, the use of resins to strengthen packages and control the amount of fibre used in packages will also increase.
• Manufacturing Costs and Efficiency: Increasing broke and energy consumption reduces machine efficiency and can cause drainage issues. Chemical companies offer programs to help improve these issues by allowing paper mills to increase production and decrease costs. Using resins to generate dry paper strength is more economical than using wet strength resins because dry strength resins can be used at lower dosages. In June 2025, a group of paper mills announced their plans to implement improvements to increase process automation and efficiency. Some of the planned improvements included systems to automatically and continuously monitor and dosage controls to reduce chemical usage by 10%. Redundant chemicals increase cost and create a larger environmental impact, and using improved chemical resins will help paper mills be more efficient. During the next 3 to 5 years, especially if paper mills are not profitable, there will be an increased use of dry strength resins.

The challenges facing this market include:

• Unstable Cost of Raw Materials: The raw materials for dry strength resins are cyclical and create uncertainty for paper mills. Energy costs impact the price of crude oil and other chemicals and can fluctuate by 10% or more in a month. Higher uncertainty and costs can lead mills to source raw materials over longer distances. The next 3 to 5 years will increase the use of lower dosage strength dry resins, long-term contracts and regional raw material sourcing.
• Increased Environmental and Chemical Regulation: Tighter regulations have begun impacting the chemicals used in papermaking. These regulations cover a range of impacts from toxicity and air emissions to the safety of wastewater and the recyclability of paper and its impact on food contact. Regulations affecting packaging have led to the development of systems for packaging that are fully recyclable and reduce the environmental impact of packaging. These regulations have created an emphasis on the development of packaging systems that meet the requirements of various national and international regulations. Additionally, Regulations impacting packaging may require modifications to paper and paperboard used for packaging. The ability of suppliers to negotiate and reformulate may give larger suppliers a competitive advantage. Regulatory and enforcement complexity may lead to a temporary reduction in the availability of systems and products that contain substances of concern.
• Performance Constraints in Recycled and Variable Furnish: Variability in recycled fibre (moisture content, level of contamination, ash content, fibre length, and manner in which fibres are bound together, etc.) can result in inconsistency in strength of the end product. In some cases, variations cannot be controlled by a mill using a fixed chemical program. During August 2025, several mills in different regions disclosed that their containerboard was composed of more than 50% recycled fibre. Consequences of using too much resin in a containerboard are increase in cost, reduced drainage, formation of deposits in a machine, and disruption in recycling. In the coming years, industry participants would need to explore ways to improve process and incorporation of real-time control systems.

Due to focus on sustainability and packaging, especially with rise in e-commerce, the market for dry strength resins would experience growth in the coming years. Improved technologies would lead to development of dry strength resins for paper, and other packaging materials, with improved strength and performance. Raw-material policies, regulation, and market fluctuations would impact competitiveness of suppliers, especially small and medium mills. The market would be fragmented based on strength of the products offered, consistency and reliability in meeting customers' demands across different geographies.

List of Dry Strength Resin Market Companies

Companies in the market compete on the basis of product quality offered. Major players in this market focus on expanding their manufacturing facilities, R&D investments, infrastructural development, and leverage integration opportunities across the value chain. Through these strategies dry strength resin market companies cater increasing demand, ensure competitive effectiveness, develop innovative products & technologies, reduce production costs, and expand their customer base. Some of the dry strength resin market companies profiled in this report include-

• SNF
• Kemira
• Solenis
• Chengming Chemical
• Harima Chemicals
• Arakawa Chemical
• Rachee
• Seiko PMC
• Beijing Hengju
• Nantian Nongke

Dry Strength Resin Market by Segment

The study includes a forecast for the global dry strength resin by type, application, and region.

Dry Strength Resin Market by Type [Value ($B) from 2019 to 2035]:

• Cationic
• Amphoteric
• Anionic

Dry Strength Resin Market by Application [Value ($B) from 2019 to 2035]:

• Paper
• Paperboard
• Others

Dry Strength Resin Market by Region [Value ($B) from 2019 to 2035]:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• The Rest of the World

Country Wise Outlook for the Dry Strength Resin Market

The dry strength resin market is impacted by regional investments in papermaking capacity, conversion in packaging and adherence to chemical regulatory processes. From 2025 to 2027, suppliers will focus on maximizing local and mill-specific production and formulation. According to Lucintel's recent research, this will increase competition throughout the papermaking industry.

• United States: Investments were made to increase production capacity at various mills. International Paper (2025) and other producers have ongoing projects to increase capacity of containers and other packaging. These projects will boost the level of dry strength papers and chemistries produced in the region in the next several years.
• China: The paper industry in China has added and is planning to add large volumes of packaging and related papers. Nine Dragons Paper (2025) plans to spend approximately $350 million to build and expand related papers. New equipment and increasing use of recycled fibre in papers will enhance the demand for wet end systems and dry strength resins in the medium term.
• Germany: Poland has led the way with a 2023 mandate for the constant improvement of recyclability of products and packaging, and a required 2025 reduction of packaging waste. German chemical suppliers and papermakers have shifted R&D toward more efficient fibre use in paper and resin choices for packaging.
• India: India's paper and board production capacity has grown with the government's support of the paper and packaging industry and the Natural Fibres Mission. It is estimated that India produced 24 million tons of paper and board in 2024. The new capacity will allow for the use of locally produced dry strength resins.
• Japan: Other Japanese paper companies have also partnered in developing high-end packaging, reinforced by government research support. Nippon Paper reported R&D spending of 10.6 billion Yen for fiscal 2024. Expect increased specialized formulations in packing resins and stronger demand for high performance resins.

Features of the Global Dry Strength Resin Market

• Market Size Estimates: dry strength resin market size estimation in terms of value ($B).
• Trend and Forecast Analysis: Market trends (2019 to 2026) and forecast (2027 to 2035) by various segments and regions.
• Segmentation Analysis: dry strength resin market size by type, application, and region in terms of value ($B).
• Regional Analysis: dry strength resin market breakdown by North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World.
• Growth Opportunities: Analysis of growth opportunities in different type, application, and regions for the dry strength resin market.
• Strategic Analysis: This includes M&A, new product development, and competitive landscape of the dry strength resin market.

Analysis of competitive intensity of the industry based on Porter's Five Forces model.

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This report answers following 11 key questions:

• Q.1. What are some of the most promising, high-growth opportunities for the dry strength resin market by type (cationic, amphoteric, and anionic), application (paper, paperboard, and others), and region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World)?
• Q.2. Which segments will grow at a faster pace and why?
• Q.3. Which region will grow at a faster pace and why?
• Q.4. What are the key factors affecting market dynamics? What are the key challenges and business risks in this market?
• Q.5. What are the business risks and competitive threats in this market?
• Q.6. What are the emerging trends in this market and the reasons behind them?
• Q.7. What are some of the changing demands of customers in the market?
• Q.8. What are the new developments in the market? Which companies are leading these developments?
• Q.9. Who are the major players in this market? What strategic initiatives are key players pursuing for business growth?
• Q.10. What are some of the competing products in this market and how big of a threat do they pose for loss of market share by material or product substitution?
• Q.11. What M&A activity has occurred in the last 8 years and what has its impact been on the industry?