Vigorous Development of Plastic Products   

Owing to the sustained rapid growth of investment in public infrastructure construction, especially the RMB4 000 billion stimulation program, China's consumption of plastic construction materials has grown at a fast rate. The plastic construction materials that are mainly used in the construction and public engineering sectors, such as plastic pipelines, profiles and doors/windows, insulation materials and major products for municipal projects have a bright development prospect and widening application markets.

1 Plastic pipelines and
fitting parts

   Amid impacts from the global financial crisis, demands for many plastic products were affected. However, the production and the sales of plastic pipelines and fittings are still developing vigorously with a brisk market demand.
   According to China's National Bureau of Statistics, the combined output of plastic pipes and fittings by the enterprises with considerable scale reached 5.8 million tons in 2009, an increase of 18.92% over the previous year. The output of plastic plates and sheets reached 3.2 million tons, an increase of 6.37%. The output of plastic rods and bars reached 1.6 million tons, an increase of 19.19%. The supportive policies of the government will surely help further expansion of applications for plastic construction materials.
   China's plastic pipeline sector now has a processing capacity of more than 8 million t/a, with high industrial concentration and a lot of enterprises of considerable scale. Over 100 enterprises have a capacity exceeding 10 000 t/a. Nearly 20 have a capacity over 100 000 t/a.

2 Plastic profiles and
doors/windows

Production of plastic profiles and doors/windows in China has formed a new industrial cluster with large scale, complete variety and low-carbon economy in the past 30 years. The demand for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin in the production of plastic profiles is more than 3.50 million tons a year, around 40% of domestic PVC output.
   China's capacity to make plastic profiles was around 8 million t/a in 2009. China is home to around 13 000 extrusion lines of various types. The output of various plastic profiles is estimated to be around 5 million tons a year (including half a million tons of profiles not used in doors/windows). The processing capacity for plastic doors/windows is 700 million square meters a year, and the actual consumption is estimated to be more than 500 million square meters with a total output value of more than RMB100 billion. Plastic doors/windows reportedly account for around 38% of the total market demand for doors/windows. Their export is mainly controlled by about 20 of the large and medium enterprises.
   Assuming that the consumption of plastic profiles in plastic doors/windows was 4.50 million tons in 2009, 500 square meters of plastic doors/windows could be produced, which can save more than 40 billion kWh a year in manufacturing compared with aluminum alloy profiles, not to mention the energy savings when the doors/windows are in use.

3 Stable demand growth and sustained market share growth of plastic packages

With market trends changing and clients demanding higher quality, the market landscapes of plastic packages such as hollow plastic containers, flexible packaging films, composite films, plastic woven products and foam plastics have been adjusted and the product mix tends to be more rational in China.
   According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the plastic films output of enterprises with considerable scale was 6.9 million tons in 2009, an increase of 12.06% over the previous year. The slack period of negative growth in 2008 had been totally reversed. The growth of agricultural films output, in particular, reached 18%, being the highest in the new century. This shows convincingly that with the increased technical capabilities and the constantly increasing output of plastic products for agriculture, the demand for plastic films is brisk.
   The output of plastic yarns and woven fabrics, including braided bags, from enterprises with considerable scale was 5.8 million tons in 2009, an increase of 26.58% over the previous year and accounting for 13% of the total output of plastic products. Plastic yarns and woven fabrics are the second major plastic packaging materials next to plastic films. The output growth of plastic woven fabrics has been 23.83%-31.51% a year since 2005. A rapid development status has been maintained. Relatively high growth was achieved even during the financial crisis.
   The foam plastics and plastic packaging cases/containers is similar to plastic films. Their output reached 1.87 million tons and 2.74 million tons respectively in 2009 with a growth of 15.81% and 20.67% year over year. Foam plastics production grew slowly in 2008 and plastic packaging cases/containers suffered negative growth. They recovered dramatically in the macro environment of the financial crisis.
   The sector of plastic hollow containers has changed greatly. New raw materials, new technologies and new equipment keep cropping up. The upgrading of products is even faster. The product mix has rapidly shifted from small packaging drums and bottles to products with great variety, large size and multiple functions. The sustained growth of vast markets in sectors such as beverages, beer, drinking water, medicine, chemicals, daily cosmetics and autos has promoted the development of plastic hollow products. Reportedly, China's total output of hollow plastic products (plastic bottles, plastic drums, plastic cases and plastic pallets) exceeded 5 million tons in 2009. The output of plastic packaging boxes/containers from enterprises with considerable scale was 2.74 million tons in 2009, an increase of 20.67% over the previous year and being the highest in recent years.
   The industrial scale of China's film blowing, compositing, color-printing and bag-making sectors is getting bigger and bigger. The output of various functional films was around 1.65 million tons in 2009. They mainly include cooking heat-resistant varieties, anti-static varieties, high insulation varieties, antibacterial varieties and nanotech-conditioned varieties. China is home to more than 10 000 flexible package color-printing enterprises with considerable scale. Of those, 25 have annual sales over RMB300 million and 68 are over RMB100 million. China's flexible package color-printing sector is the biggest in the world. The market for functional plastic packaging films is up and coming, and China will lead the new trend.

4 Concentrated development of new sectors such as man-made leather and synthetic leather

The development of man-made leather and synthetic leather was most rapid from the 1980s to the 1990s and the average annual growth was more than 15%. China's total demand for artificial leather and synthetic leather is estimated to be 1.5 million tons in 2010. The demand for high-grade synthetic leather such as superfine fiber varieties and varieties with high physical properties is predicted to be 1.05 billion square meters.
   Pollution control in the production of man-made leather and synthetic leather has been greatly improved in China. The rate for the installation of dimethyl formamide (DMF) recovery units in the entire sector has reached 100% and clean production has already been achieved. The industrial standards for the environment of synthetic leather production and for the clean production of synthetic leather have been revised on the basis of relevant national standards and local standards. This shows convincingly that environmental protection is becoming standardized and scientific in this sector.

5 Greater