Overview of the development of global plastics additives industry and analysis of competitive landscape

Abstract: Plastic additives, also known as plastic additives, are some of the compounds that must be added to improve the processing properties of polymers (synthetic resins) during molding or to improve the performance of the resin itself.

Plastic additives, also known as plastic additives, are compounds that must be added to improve the processing properties of polymers (synthetic resins) during molding or to improve the performance of the resin itself. For example, in order to reduce the molding temperature of the polyvinyl chloride resin, the plasticizer is added to make the product soft; and the foaming agent is added to prepare a foam having a light weight, vibration resistance, heat insulation and sound insulation; thermal decomposition of some plastics The temperature is very close to the molding temperature and cannot be formed without the addition of a heat stabilizer.

Therefore, plastic additives occupy a particularly important position in plastic molding processing. There are many ways to classify plastic additives. The more common methods are to classify them according to their functions and functions. In functionally equivalent categories, it is often further subdivided according to the mechanism of action or the type of chemical structure.

(1) Market Overview

At present, plastics are mainly divided into two categories: general plastics and engineering plastics. General purpose plastics generally refer to plastics with large output, wide application, good formability and low price. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), acrylonitrile-butyl Astyrene-styrene (ABS) plastics are the five most commonly used general-purpose plastics, with PVC being the mainstay.

Plastic additives are an associated industry in the plastics industry, and their level of development is closely related to the development of the plastics industry. PVC products are widely used in the production of chemical building materials, agricultural PVC plastic products, industrial PVC plastic products, packaging materials, etc. due to their low cost, easy installation and use, non-corrosion aging, and good thermal insulation performance.

From the perspective of China's current consumption structure of PVC products, PVC hard and soft products accounted for 59.2% and 40.8%, respectively. Among them, industrial civil construction is the main demand for rigid PVC, which accounts for 13.3% of the total, profiles, doors and windows. Accounted for 22.9% of the market; in soft products, the largest amount is the film.

The plastics processing industry has maintained rapid growth as China's economy continues to prosper and has great potential for development. The plastics industry is driven by positive factors such as the promotion of energy-saving emission reduction and circular economy development policies, economic and technological innovation, the acceleration of the development of socialist new rural construction, the continuous advancement of urbanization, and the promotion of domestic consumption. The great development has been further promoted.

In recent years, with the development of China and the global economy, the scale of PVC products industry has been expanding, the output of products has increased year by year, the main economic and technical indicators have increased substantially, and the orderly development of the whole industry has grown steadily. Going to the road of sustainable development in a strong country.

At present, plastic additives are complex and have many functions. Throughout the various stages of resin synthesis, plastic product processing and final application, the plastics additives industry has become an important branch of the fine chemical industry.

(II) Global plastics additives industry

At present, the world's enterprises engaged in the production of plastic additives are distributed in Asia, Europe, the United States and other continents. Due to their strong financial strength, broad technology and long-term involvement in related industries, international large-scale manufacturers are engaged in the production of various plastic additives. The chain is longer and the production of high-end plastic additives is significant.

Due to the low labor costs in Asia (except Japan) and the large scale of the market, the world's plastics additives industry is gradually shifting to Asia, and most of the manufacturers in Asia, especially China. Therefore, in recent years, China has played an important role in the rapid growth of plastic additives, becoming the world's largest and fastest growing market, far ahead of other countries.

In recent years, with the wide application of plastics, the global plastics additives industry has achieved rapid growth. In the past few years, the world's demand for plastic additives has continued to grow at an average annual rate of about 3-4%. The annual growth rate of demand in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific (excluding China) is 3%, and the annual average of China's plastic additives. The growth rate is as high as 8%-10%, and the average annual growth rate of demand in other regions is 5%-6%. It is predicted that the plastics additives market will continue to grow at a rate of 3%-4% in the coming period.

(III) China's plastics additives industry

China's plastics auxiliaries industry started late. In the 1970s, relevant research institutes and manufacturers engaged in the research and development and production of plastic auxiliaries, and rapidly developed with the industrialization of PVC. Nowadays, after 30 years of construction and development, China's plastics auxiliaries industry has developed into a large industry with a wide range of products and numerous manufacturers.

Since 2005, the annual growth rate of China's plastics additives industry has remained at 8%-10%, far higher than the annual growth rate of 4% of the world's plastic additives. The plastics auxiliaries industry has also received the attention of various national departments and has gradually become an important member of the new material field with the most development potential in recent years.

Plastic additives have formed more than 30 billion yuan in the industry in China. Except for most of the needs of the domestic plastics industry, China's plastics additives also reached about 5 billion yuan. At the same time, through years of development, China has made great progress in the technical level of plastic additives, product structure and the quality of scientific and technical personnel.

However, although there are more than 1,000 plastic auxiliaries in China, most of them are small-scale workshop enterprises except for plasticizers. The development of plastic auxiliaries still has the imitation of mature products from abroad, and the development of new and high-performance auxiliaries. The proportion of research and development is relatively low. However, with the upgrading of the industrial structure of China's chemical industry and the improvement of Chinese companies' awareness of R&D and innovation, new and high-performance plastic additives developed independently will gradually increase.

(4) Industry competition pattern

After years of development, China's PVC heat stabilizer industry has formed a certain scale. At present, there are many production enterprises with high degree of marketization. At the same time, different market characteristics and competition patterns are formed according to different products: the production plants of a certain scale have More than 300. Production of lead, stearic acid soaps, metal soap composite stabilizers (including solids and liquids), organotin, organic germanium, rare earths and organic auxiliary stabilizers (such as β-diketones, phosphites, etc.) Kind of product. Among them, lead accounts for about 43%, metal soaps account for 20%, organic tin accounts for 5%, composites account for 17%, rare earths account for 8%, and others account for 6%.

Low-end products such as lead-salt heat stabilizers are mature and have low barriers. At present, there are many domestic manufacturers, with fierce competition and the highest degree of marketization. With the increasing awareness of environmental protection around the world, the regulation of environmental protection has become stricter. In this situation, the replacement of toxic lead, cadmium and even cockroaches has replaced them with non-toxic products, which has also effectively promoted the development of non-toxic products. .

Calcium/zinc composite stabilizer is an important variety in non-toxic PVC heat stabilizers and one of the most active research and development areas in recent years. Its research direction is to continuously improve its thermal stability through the compounding of various auxiliary stabilizers, and give it more functionality, so that it can replace or partially replace some products developed by lead and cadmium in recent years, and can also be used for wire and cable, etc. In the field, heat resistance has been greatly improved.

The world-famous manufacturers have launched a series of products. For example, the United States Kodak Company is mainly OBS-organic stabilizer, and the MarK OBS.100 series is sold in mainland China. It is mainly used in PVC pipes and fittings, and is a powder product, MarK. CZ series liquid and powder calcium/zinc products can be used in PVC calendering, extrusion, granulation and other composite stabilizers. The German bear brand company mainly has MC series, which can be used for PVC wire and cable material processing.

BS series for dip-molding, rotomoulding, calendering processes and products, SMS series for pipes and pipe fittings; RDX series of powdered calcium/magnesium/zinc products from Japan Adico (Asahi Kasei) for PVC profiles, RuPl00 The series is used for PVC cable materials.