For the chromatography market, 2015 was a challenging year, as total sales decreased 0.5% to $8.2 billion. Part of this decline can be attributed to currency effects, but the general state of the global economy was also a drag on sales. Fortunately, the outlook for 2016 is more favorable and the total market is forecast to increase 2.2%, helped by important niche applications in clinical chromatography and bioprocessing. Half of total chromatography market demand comes from the aftermarket and growth in that segment should be stronger than for the overall market, while sales of initial systems will only experience a slight advance for the year.

Analytical HPLC is by far the largest individual chromatography product segment, representing more than half of the total sales of chromatography instrumentation. However, growth opportunities in this important segment are somewhat limited, and the forecast for 2016 is for marginal growth of 0.3%. Waters and Agilent Technologies are the top players in analytical HPLC; consequently, these two companies are the leaders in the overall chromatography market. Agilent tops the overall list due to its strong position in the gas chromatography (GC) market, which is the second largest chromatography product segment.

In contrast to the analytical HPLC market, clinical HPLC currently has the brightest prospects in the chromatography segment, with growth forecast at 6.7%. The adoption of chromatography as a true clinical instrument is an ongoing process, but it is clearly producing significant growth. Bio-Rad Laboratories and Tosoh are the leaders in this segment, which makes up 4.2% of the total chromatography market.

Preparative LC and low-pressure LC are also expected to achieve better-than-average growth this year, buoyed by increasing demand from pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical processing activities. GE Healthcare is the dominant player in both of these segments, while Waters and Bio-Rad are the next most important companies in these two markets.

Ion chromatography (IC), which makes up almost 6% of the total chromatography market, caters primarily to environmental and industrial markets. Water quality, and food and agricultural applications should continue to support strong demand. Demand for this product segment is forecast to grow 5.9% in 2016, exceeding $500 million in total sales. Thermo Fisher Scientific and Metrohm are the leading IC companies.

The GC market is quite significant, making up more than a fifth of total chromatography sales. GC has largely industrial and environmental applications, and reviving strength in these areas should help produce positive growth in this market. Agilent and Shimadzu are the leaders in the GC market.

The remaining product segments are flash chromatography, supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) and thin layer chromatography (TLC). The first two markets have cooled off somewhat and will only achieve growth on par with the overall average for the chromatography market. In contrast, the TLC market remains in decline, with total demand forecast to decrease 2.6% in 2016, hampered by competitive techniques and changing chromatographic workflows that reduce or eliminate the need for TLC.

In addition to some of the major vendors already mentioned, an important role in the chromatography market is played by suppliers of aftermarket chemicals and reagents. The recent union of Merck KGaA and Sigma-Aldrich (see IBO 11/30/15) has propelled Merck into the number four position in the overall chromatography market. Other important suppliers in particular technologies include Camag, Teledyne ISCO and Biotage.