China's Bisphenol A Industry Enters Fast Track Pulling Power from Epoxy and Polycarbonate

Bisphenol A is mainly used for the production of epoxy resins and polycarbonates. With the global epoxy resin manufacturing center accelerating its transfer to China, more and more countries have come to China to purchase epoxy resins, which has brought unlimited business opportunities to China's epoxy and bisphenol A industries. In addition, the production of polycarbonate has just started in China. With the continuous growth of consumption in electronics, building materials, automotive communications and computers, the market potential of polycarbonate will be fully brought into play, thereby driving the strong growth of bisphenol A consumption. Therefore, experts believe that China's BPA industry has entered a period of rapid development.

In our country, bisphenol A is mainly used to prepare epoxy resin. The consumption of bisphenol A by epoxy resin accounts for about 90% of the total domestic consumption of bisphenol A. China's epoxy resin has maintained rapid growth for many years, which is the fundamental guarantee for the development of bisphenol A. China has become the largest epoxy resin production and consumption market in the world. In 2004, production and consumption amounted to 290,000 tons and 560,000 tons, respectively, a year-on-year increase of 20% and 22% respectively; in 2005, production and consumption reached 330,000 tons respectively. And 630,000 tons, an increase of 9% and 17% respectively. In 2005, China's epoxy resin consumed about 250,000 tons of bisphenol A. It is expected that during the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period, the consumption of epoxy resin in China will increase by a factor of two to 1.2 million tons, and the demand for bisphenol A will increase by 5% to 7% annually.

In foreign countries, polycarbonate is an important area for the application of bisphenol A, accounting for about 70% of the consumption of bisphenol A (68% in the United States, 70% in Europe, and 76% in Japan). However, the production of polycarbonate has only just begun in China, and its consumption of bisphenol A has not yet begun. With the continuous growth of consumption in electronics, building materials, automotive communications, and computers, it will greatly stimulate the consumption demand of polycarbonate in China, opening up a new world of bisphenol A consumption. It is expected that in the coming years, the annual growth rate of polycarbonate in China will remain at 15%-20%. The demand for polycarbonate will reach 800,000 tons in 2006 and 1.4 million tons in 2010, and its potential demand for bisphenol A will reach 700,000 tons and 1.3 million tons respectively. It is precisely in the Chinese market that foreign giants have come to invest and set up factories in China. It is expected that China will produce 400,000 tons/year of polycarbonate production capacity in the next two years. However, even if all the polycarbonate projects proposed by domestic and joint ventures are put into operation according to plan, the domestic polycarbonate production capacity in 2006 and 2010 will only be 160,000 tons and 870,000 tons. The gap between supply and demand is huge and still needs to be imported from abroad. . At present, investment intentions for the construction of polycarbonate units have begun to emerge. The potential for bisphenol A to be tapped in the future is very large. Therefore, experts believe that the increase of BPA consumption in China in the next few years will mainly come from polycarbonate.

In recent years, China’s imports of bisphenol A have grown rapidly. In 2004, imports totaled 182,500 tons and exports were 11,700 tons; in January- November 2005, imports were 253,200 tons and exports were 0.89 million tons. From January to November 2005, imports increased by 38.7% compared with 2004.

At present, the only domestic manufacturers of bisphenol A are 41,000 t/y of the Wuxi Resin Plant and 10,000 t/y of the Tianjin Shuangfu Company. The production capacity is far from meeting the needs of market development. The development of bisphenol A projects in China has attracted the attention of the industry. The bisphenol A projects currently under construction and planned to be built include the 200,000-ton/year project of Bayer’s joint venture in Shanghai, Sinopec Corp. and Mitsui Chemicals, Japan. The company cooperated to build a 120,000 tons/year plant, and China Lanxing Company built a 50,000-ton/year plant in Lanzhou. Other projects under planning include: Tianjin Petrochemical 100,000 tons/year, Shandong Haihua 100,000 tons /year, Heilongjiang Qihua 100,000 tons/year, Hebei Lingang 100,000 tons/year, Maoming 100,000 tons/year, Quanzhou 200,000 tons/year and Bayer Corporation 200,000 tons/year, and the total production capacity is expected to reach 135 10,000 tons/year.

If part of the above projects are implemented, it is conservatively estimated that China will have 400,000 to 600,000 tons/year of bisphenol A production capacity increment within 3 years, which will greatly improve the situation of China's BPA supply shortage.