China will actually put into production 14 sets of polypropylene plants in 2020, with an additional supply capacity of 4.35 million tons/year. By the end of 2020, China's polypropylene production capacity has reached 32.98 million tons/year, breaking through 30 million tons/year for the first time. In 2020, China's polypropylene production will reach 28.36 million tons, imports 6,554,100 tons, exports 424,500 tons, apparent consumption 34.49 million tons, and self-sufficiency rate of 82 percent.

Polypropylene from the relative excess capacity to absolute excess capacity, special material development on the arrow!

At present, the high-end polypropylene special materials with high dependence on foreign markets in China mainly include two categories. One is the high-end grade of bulk varieties, such as high crystallinity polypropylene (HCPP), high rigidity polypropylene (HSPP) and high melt strength polypropylene (HMSPP). The other is special varieties of polypropylene products, such as ultra-low ash polypropylene products, metallocene polypropylene products and so on.

HCPP: copolymerization products mainly rely on imports, domestic products to homopolymerization based

High crystallity polypropylene (HCPP) can be divided into two categories: copolymerization and homopolymerization. Among them, copolymerization products are mainly used in downstream fields such as automobiles and household appliances, and homopolymerization products are mainly used in food packaging industry. In 2019, HCPP consumption in the Chinese market was about 500,000 tons. The automotive and packaging industries are the largest downstream applications of HCPP, with consumption accounting for 70 percent of the total.

China initially had HCPP production capacity, but there is still a gap with imported products when it applies it to areas such as automobiles. China's copolymerization HCPP mainly relies on imported supply, with imports accounting for about 90 percent. The main suppliers are SK, Borouge, LyondellBasell, Zhongsha Tianjin, Hanwha Total and others. Homopolymer HCPP is mainly Chinese products, the main suppliers are Luoyang Petrochemical, Guangzhou Petrochemical, Lanzhou Petrochemical, Panjin Huajin, Zhenhai Refinery and so on.

HSPP: Medium and low melting refers to the trend of excess products, products with melting fingers greater than 30 are completely dependent on imports

HSPP is mainly defined from the point of view of impact strength, thereby improving the toughness of the modified material, and helping the modified material company to minimize the load of the plastic body, thus simplifying the formula.

In 2019, the consumption of HSPP in the Chinese market was about 350,000 tons, mainly used in downstream fields such as automobiles, toys and household appliances. Among them, automobiles are the largest downstream consumption area, accounting for more than 50 percent. Toys are the second largest consumer area, accounting for more than 30 percent. The application of China's HSPP in the automotive sector will continue to grow in the future as the automotive industry's requirements for materials move toward lighter weight and higher performance.

In China, there are many suppliers of HSPP products, while Chinese products occupy a major market share. The supply of medium and low melt index products is in excess trend, while HSPP products with a melt index greater than 30 are still completely dependent on imported products. Qilu Petrochemical, Formosa Plastics Ningbo and Yanshan Petrochemical have become major product suppliers in the Chinese market. More than 10 percent of HSPP products are still supplied by foreign manufacturers, such as Borouge, Lyondellbasell and Exxonmobil.

HMSPP: Small market size but still profitable

China HMSPP There is still a gap in quality and reputation between Chinese products and imported products. The Chinese market for HMSPP products is mainly provided by Shanghai Shihua, Singapore's TPC and South Korea's LG Chem.

HMSPP market demand is only about 52,000 tons, of which 95 percent of the consumption is used for polypropylene foam, also used in the field of hollow product injection molding and thin film. Due to the small size of the downstream EPP market and the weak bargaining power of EPP manufacturers, HMSPP products are in a state of small market size but acceptable profitability.

Ultra low ash polypropylene: The Chinese market is 95% dependent on imports

Global ultra low grey polypropylene is mainly supplied by Korea Petrochemical, Nordic Chemical, TPC and Sinopec Zhongyuan Petrochemical, while the supply of Korea Petrochemical, Nordic Chemical and Singapore TPC accounts for more than 90% of the total global supply. In the Chinese market, 95 percent of ultra-low ash polypropylene is imported.

In 2019, a total of 104,000 tons of ultra-low ash polypropylene were consumed in the Chinese market. The battery separator industry is the most widely used, followed by the capacitor film industry, with a total consumption of 93 percent. Battery separator and capacitor film are the main application areas for low-ash polypropylene, so their average price is kept at the same level as the overall average price. Automotive, baby products and home appliance applications are high value-added areas, but the market is relatively closed, the market capacity is small and the market development is difficult. It is estimated that the consumption of ultra-low ash polypropylene will grow at a rate of more than 7% in the next 10 years.