Aerospace consultancy AeroStrategy completed a comprehensive forecast of the raw materials used in aviation, spanning the air transport, military, business, and helicopter segments. The materials included both metals and non-metals, and were classified into 10 categories.

Key findings of the 20-year forecast include:

- The total weight of aircraft produced in 2007 is nearly 200 million lbs

- The total weight of materials required to produce these aircraft ("buy weight") is 1.0B lbs and will reach 2.2B lbs by 2027

- Despite encroachment from composites, aerospace aluminum demand will continue to grow over the next decade

- Overall, the most significant increase is titanium consumption, which will expand from 107M lbs to reach 218.7M lbs by 2017 - Demand of carbon fiber reinforced plastics will grow almost ten-fold by 2027

- The material "buy-to-fly ratio" for current production aircraft is approximately five

- Boeing and Airbus aircraft account for nearly 60% of total material demand

A summary of findings was presented at the American Metals Market Conference and can be downloaded at http://www.aerostrategy.com/speeches.cgi.