Global soap market

The global soap market is dominated by a small number of multinational companies. Soap is only one sector of their product ranges. In multinational companies such as Unilever and Procter and Gamble, soap and detergent ranges typically account for less than 20% of group turnover (in 1999). 

Regionally, the market for surfactants (not including soap) can be broken down into four main regions with Asia accounting for the largest market with a 31% share. In 2003, the global surfactant market had a value estimated to have been worth 14.3 billion. 

Figure 1.1 presents the consumption of the major surfactants in the world market in 1996. Along with soap, linear alkylbenzene sulphonates (LAS) remain the most bulky and cost-effective anionic surfactants. LAS will continue to be the workhorse of the detergents industry on a global basis. However, the LAS share decreases gradually their recess is occupied by alcohol-derived surfactants, first of all alcohol sulphates (AS), alcohol ethoxylates (AE) and alcohol ether sulphates (AES). In West Europe alkylphenol ethoxylates (APE) have been removed over the last two decades from a large number of household applications in view of... 

Body washes are another more recent introduction into the marketplace. These products have become a mainstay in the global market. Body washes can be simple formulas similar to those used for liquid handsoaps or complex 2-in-l oil-in-water emulsion, moisturizing formulations. These products contain a wide range of synthetic surfactants not typically found in bar soaps or liquid handsoaps, such as sodium monoalkyl phosphate and alkyl aminocarboxylates. It is not uncommon to find over 20 different components in these formulations, with no less than six or seven different surfactants. These products can also contain skin benefit agents, such as cholesterol, fatty alcohols, fatty acids, cationic polymers, and emollient oils to provide even milder-to-skin cleansing and in-use moisturization. 

TABLE 2.2. The Top 20 Global Companies in the Soap and Toiletries Market ... 

The Global Market for Soap, by London School of Hygiene and Tropic Medicine, http //www. globaIhandwashing.org/Publications/MarketStudy. h... 

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