Booming Drone Market Offers Niche for Plastics-Maker EMS-Chemie

Booming Drone Market Offers Niche for Plastics-Maker EMS-Chemie

(Bloomberg) — EMS-Chemie Holding AG, the Swiss supplier of resins to General Motors Co., is turning its attention to the rapidly expanding market for commercial drones and its need for lightweight and robust materials to make chassis and other parts, Chief Executive Officer Magdalena Martullo-Blocher said in an interview. Used for delivering parcels to oil-rig inspections, there are about 5 million drones or unmanned aerial vehicles worldwide – and the UAV market is growing by 20 percent each year, according to the Herrliberg, Switzerland-based company. “This is just the beginning. We won’t dive in and deploy 5 million drones, but a million to 2 million would be of interest to us,” Martullo-Blocher said in an interview in Zurich. “We are monitoring how things develop.” Regulation as well as technological advances in commercial drone development will also influence the direction and development of the market, Martullo-Blocher said: “It’s still difficult to say how big the market will be, but we have made a start and the potential is there.” Acquisitions EMS-Chemie is also looking at small acquisitions to expand their portfolio of technologies. “We’re looking at several companies or divisions of companies, but they are smaller companies with sales below […]