Global caprolactam trade pattern is about to reshuffle
China Drying News reported that more than 2 million tons/year of caprolactam will be put into operation in the next two years, 80% of which will be concentrated in China and Taiwan. At the same time, some old devices in the European region will be gradually shut down. Between one increase and one decrease, the import dependence of caprolactam in Asia is expected to decline significantly, and the traditional export regions such as Europe will be greatly affected, and the global caprolactam trade pattern will soon change.
According to statistics, in 2011, the total consumption of caprolactam in the world was about 4.060 million tons, and the total caprolactam production capacity was about 4.91 million tons in the same period, of which Asia accounted for 38.1% of the total production capacity. Consumption is mainly concentrated in Asia, North America and Western Europe, of which Asian consumption accounts for about 63.2% of total consumption. Asia is the world's largest consumer of caprolactam and the largest net importer of caprolactam. China's mainland and Taiwan's imports of caprolactam ranked first and second in the world. By the end of 2011, the total caprolactam production capacity in China reached 585,000 tons/year, and the self-sufficiency rate had risen to more than 40%. However, the supply gap remained large, and the import of caprolactam was close to 650,000 tons. The import volume this year is expected to exceed 800,000 tons.
Charles Tracy, chairman of the British Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., said that after entering 2012, caprolactam production significantly accelerated. Among them, nearly 80% of new caprolactam production capacity in the world this year has been concentrated in China.
Since the beginning of this year, a large number of caprolactam devices have been put into operation or expanded in China. In March, Shandong Haili Chemical Co., Ltd. completed a phase-one caprolactam plant with a capacity of 100,000 tons/year; in April, Zhejiang Juhua Group completed the expansion, and caprolactam’s total production capacity doubled to 50,000 tons/year; at the end of May, At the end of July, the A-line and B-line of the annual 200,000-ton/year caprolactam project jointly invested by Sinopec Baling Petrochemical and Zhejiang Hengyi Group in Xiaoshan were successfully launched. So far, China's total caprolactam capacity has reached 915,000 tons/year. And this trend is still continuing. According to the plan, China will add caprolactam production capacity of 625,000 tons/year this year, and 2013 will increase new production capacity by 900,000 tons/year. A total of 1.625 million tons/year caprolactam production capacity will be added in Mainland China and Taiwan in the next two years.
Taiwan's China Petrochemical Development Corporation (CPDC) is the sole caprolactam producer in Taiwan, China, and has an existing production capacity of 400,000 tons/year. In the third quarter of this year, it will also produce a new production capacity of 100,000 tons/year in Miaoli County. According to statistics, in 2011 Taiwan imported 1.34 million tons of caprolactam.
While Asia has intensified production, installations in traditional export regions such as Eastern Europe have been shut down. Sibur-Neftekhim, a Russian gas oligopoly Gazprom’s subsidiary Sibur-Neftekhim, announced on July 17 that it plans to close a chlorine-based caprolactam raw material plant in April 2013; Ukrainian NF Trading Company left a Ukraine-based 60,000 tons/year caprolactam in May this year The factory, because of the poor profitability of the factory.
Mainland China is the main buyer of caprolactam cargoes in Europe. With the new production capacity of approximately 1.5 million tons/year being put into operation this year and next year, the spot imports of Mainland China will be significantly reduced in the future. In Taiwan Province of China, due to the increase in local supply due to CPDC expansion, it will also reduce dependence on imported goods.
Moreover, future market supply in Asia may be dominated by contract supply. If it is to meet the contract supply requirements, CPDC Company stated that it will increase the overall operating rate of caprolactam plants in the near future. With the launch of local new capacity, it is expected that other downstream nylon manufacturers will also increase CPDC purchases.
In addition, imposing anti-dumping duties on ocean-going imports will also affect the import of caprolactam. From October 22 onwards, mainland China imposes five-year anti-dumping duties on imports of caprolactam from the United States and Europe. In fact, since January 25, 2011, Mainland China has imposed temporary anti-dumping duties of 4.3% to 25.5% on caprolactam products originating in the United States and Europe.
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