Recently, a business consulting firm published a report on global aggregate industry, covering the world's six major regions and 22 countries. Through research of historical data and analysis of current situation, it makes a prediction for the gravel aggregates industry in next five to ten years.

In 2019, the global demand for gravel and aggregates will reach 51.7 billion metric tons, an annual increase of 5.2% on average, which means that the aggregate growth rate of 2015-2019 is basically the same as that of 2009-2014. 

With recovery of real estate industry in the developed countries and rise of per capita wages in developing countries, there will be more demand for modern housing. In terms of infrastructure, national and business investment will also increase at the same time.

The amount of crushed & renewable sand and gravel will increase significantly.

For the next period of time, the growth rate of recycled aggregates and engineered sand applied in waste concrete and slag will be twice the growth rate of natural sand application. In addition, according to the report, the storage capacity of natural sand is gradually reduced across the world; and in some developing countries where the gravel aggregates are highly demanded, natural sand mining has been prohibited by law. The report shows that by 2019, some countries will soon be depleted of natural sand reserves.

The exhaustion of natural sand resources will lead to a sharp increase in the price of aggregate, especially in the areas where aggregate demand for aggregate is huge. This will lead to the shift of large resource groups to more affordable alternative materials such as construction waste. The direct landfill of a large number of construction waste produced in modern society will cause considerable waste of resources and environmental pollution.

According to the report, by 2019, the demand for gravel aggregates will grow most rapidly in the world's Asia-Pacific regions, among which, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries will be among the top places. Restricted by economic restructuring, China's demand for aggregate will slow down. However, it is expected that by 2019, China is still the country which demands most for gravel aggregates, accounting for 50% of global gravel consumption.

The following is forecast for global aggregate market: the growth rate of demand for gravel aggregates in Africa and the Middle East will be slightly higher than the global average speed; in South America, there will be many government-supported affordable housing construction, which will revive the construction industry and the demand for aggregate; in North America, the progress of construction industry will help increase the production of local aggregate; in Western Europe, the gravel aggregate industry is about to welcome a new round of growth after a long-time decline. It is good news for the suppliers of gravel aggregate in the region; in Eastern Europe, the construction industry will also be getting better.

Aggregate will continue to be applied in most of the hydraulic concrete.

According to the report, the construction aggregate will still be widely used in hydraulic concrete: by 2019, nearly two-thirds of the world's aggregate will be used in the concrete. With intensive construction of transport infrastructure in the developing countries, it will increase the demand for the aggregates in road base and bedding layer. The asphalt across the world will be mainly used for the roads of North America and Europe. Compared with the same period of 2009-2014, the growth rate of use will slightly slow down.