Synthetic rubber trends

The "Eleventh Five-Year" period is a golden period for the rapid development of China's synthetic rubber industry. The industry has shown all-round and rapid development momentum in various aspects such as brand name, device capability and output, which has effectively supported the development of domestic rubber industry and automobile industry and promoted the rapid development of the national economy.

Due to the strong demand in the domestic synthetic rubber market and the increase in the capacity of the ethylene industry to provide raw materials for synthetic rubber, the capacity of China's synthetic rubber equipment has grown rapidly during the “11th Five-Year Plan” period. The main synthetic rubber (not including latex and special rubber, the same below) device capabilities From 1.36 million tons/year in 2005 to 2.81 million tons/year in 2010, the new production capacity was 1.45 million tons/year, with a growth rate of 112% and an average annual growth rate of 15.6%. Among the newly added capacity, styrene-butadiene rubber accounted for 39%, butadiene rubber accounted for 17%, SBS series accounted for 33%, and other nitrile rubber, butyl rubber and neoprene accounted for 11%.

In 2011, when the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” started, there were 8 sets of synthetic rubber equipment built and put into operation in China, with a total production capacity of 570,000 tons/year. At this point, the total capacity of the country's major synthetic rubber plants reached 3.39 million tons/year, which surpassed the United States in the world.

Judging from the current increase in the capacity of synthetic rubber production facilities, the growth of the production capacity of raw materials such as butadiene, styrene, and isoprene in the upstream industry will not keep up with the growth rate of the synthetic rubber industry. At present, the supply and demand ratio of major raw materials for synthetic rubber is around 1:1.6. During the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, it will be difficult to improve the industry’s supply-to-demand situation. Other raw material markets such as styrene and isoprene are very similar to the butadiene market. Inadequate supply of raw materials will increase the cost of synthetic rubber production companies and the risk of idle production capacity.

China's synthetic rubber industry should give priority to relying on the existing SR enterprises to expand production capacity and increase varieties in order to develop their capabilities, and to develop serialized products, large-scale operations, and large-scale devices, increase industrial concentration, and increase international competitiveness. Properly build new installations in areas close to raw materials and markets.

Manufacturers should pay attention to environmental protection and safe production, develop “green” products, save energy, promote energy-saving, advanced production processes and new processes, further reduce production costs and increase market competitiveness.