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Demand- after growing very
well for commodity plastics in China, has picked
in the last two decades for engineering plastics.
China is estimated to consume more than 4 million
tons of the engineering plastics in 2005, reaching
levels of about 7 million tons by 2010, attaining
an average growth of about 9% in the next 5
years. Rapid development has broadened applications
as well as consumption, making China rank first
place in the world in terms of demand for engineering
plastics.
While rapid economic development in China has
led to a corresponding increase in the use of
engineering plastics, the industry in China
is still at its primary stage and suffers from
low production levels, small-scale production
facilities and limited varieties. Domestic production
of engineering plastics is currently only 1.25
million tons, hence, like the other polymers,
China has to import a huge quantity of engineering
plastics. With self-sufficiency being less than
30%, China has become the largest importer of
engineering plastics as users of PC, POM, mPPO
and ABS rely mainly on imports. The country's
import of engineering plastics has surged from
2.28 million tons in 2002 to 3.31 million tons
in 2005. Imports will continue in the next 5
years, despite the increased domestic production
to almost 2.75 million tons. China's net import
volume of raw material resins for the five major
engineering plastics (PA, PC, POM, engineering
PET and PBT, mPPO) is estimated to cross 1 million
tons collectively, and ABS net import is estimated
to reach 2.12 million tons in 2005.
The key drivers of this growth
in China is rapid expansion of China's automotive,
electronic and electrical industries, with growth
rates greater than 20% between 2002 and 2004.
During the same period, China's GDP grew at
an average annual rate of more than 8%. China
is speeding up in domestic production, and the
growth rate is estimated to hit 13.5% in the
next 5 years. Even though the production will
almost double by 2010, the gap between consumption
and domestic output will still widen from 3.13
million tons in 2005 to 4.35 million tons in
2010.
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