In 2004, there were more than 30 polystyrene production plants in China with a production capacity of 2.35 million tons. Zhenjiang Chi Mei is currently the largest polystyrene producer in China with an annual production capacity of 360,000 tons. Other major producers are: 160,000 tons from Yangtze BASF, 135,000 tons from Shantou Ocean First Polyphenylene Resin Company, 110,000 tons from Chevron Phillips Chemicals (China) Co., Ltd., and Styron (Asia). The company has 100,000 tons, Quanzhou Ocean Polyphenyl Resin Company 96,000 tons, Total Petrochemical Sanshui Chemical Company 85,000 tons, Zhanjiang New Zhongmei Chemical Company 70,000 tons, Yanshan Petrochemical Company 52,000 tons, Guangzhou The petrochemical plant has 46,000 tons.
According to statistics, in 2004 China's polystyrene production reached 2.298 million tons and imports 1.38 million tons. In the past five years, China’s polystyrene imports have been maintained at between 133 and 1.6 million tons, but imports have declined since 2004, and China’s polystyrene self-sufficiency rate has gradually increased from 34.8% in 2000 to 38.0% in 2001. 6%, 39.2% in 2002, and 46.5% in 2003 increased to 60.7% in 2004.
It is predicted that the average annual growth rate of polystyrene in China will be about 8% in the next few years, and the demand will increase from 3.87 million tons in 2004 to 4.1 million tons in 2005 and about 5.9 million tons in 2010; Nearly 2.3 million tons in 2004 increased to 2.6 million tons in 2005; in 2005 and 2010, the polystyrene production capacity will reach 2.85 million tons and 3.5 million tons respectively. In the coming years, China will still be the world's largest polystyrene importer.
In recent years, the production capacity of polystyrene resin in developed countries and regions has not grown rapidly, and the world’s new production capacity has mainly come from mainland China. Recently, Shanghai Secco has put into production 500,000 tons/year of styrene and 300,000 tons/year of polystyrene equipment based on 900,000 tons/year of ethylene; Huizhou Nanhai ethylene project and Tianjin Petrochemical/Dow Chemical ethylene project also have supporting construction. Polystyrene production plant plan. It is estimated that by 2010, China's polystyrene production capacity will reach 3.5 million tons/year, according to the operating rate of 90%, the output will reach 3.15 million tons.
China's polystyrene raw material styrene production has developed relatively slowly, and the issue of raw material supply safety and cost increase will remain prominent for some time. China has become one of the world's largest consuming countries for styrene, but due to lower production capacity, styrene supply has been dependent on imports. With the completion and production of a number of world-scale styrene plants in China, the production capacity in 2006 will exceed 3 million tons/year, which can alleviate the contradiction between supply and demand to a certain extent, but the gap still exists. At the same time, high oil prices will continue, and cost pressures will still affect the profits of the industry for a long time.
In China's polystyrene consumption structure, the largest application areas are electronics and electrical appliances, accounting for 55% of the total consumption; daily necessities account for 25%, expandable polystyrene products, such as fast food boxes, packaging materials, building materials, etc. Also occupy a larger share. Due to the fact that a considerable part of China's demand for polystyrene resin belongs to processing of incoming materials or processing of raw materials, it is expected that the consumption structure of polystyrene resin will not change much in the next few years. Electronic and electrical parts will still be the main components, while daily necessities and office supplies And the use of areas such as expandable polystyrene packaging materials will also have a faster growth.
There is still a big gap between China's polystyrene and the world advanced level in terms of product performance, quality, and device scale, which affects the market competitiveness of polystyrene products in China. Due to the low number of domestic polystyrene grades, and many low-end products, it can not meet the requirements of the electronics industry. In the electronic and electrical industries with the largest demand for polystyrene, the imported products account for absolute advantages, and most of the domestic products can only be used for low-grade products. product. Polystyrene resins produced by Chinese companies are mainly concentrated on general-purpose grades, while the development of high-end and special-purpose resins is insufficient. This part of the market is profitable and is rapidly expanding. As high-end products are still weak in China, special brand products in some fields are still totally dependent on imports. To achieve a bigger and stronger polystyrene industry in China, the development and production of high-end products is the only way to go.
In recent years, China's polystyrene production and imports have continued to grow at a high rate, and it has become one of the largest consumer markets in the world. Since the introduction of advanced technology and equipment from abroad in the 1980s, China's polystyrene industry has also been continuously developed and expanded. The production technology has gradually shifted from the suspension method to the continuous ontology method, and the self-sufficiency rate has continuously increased.