Production and Consumption of Epoxy Resins Grow Steadily in China   

By Wu Liangyi, Tianjin Institute of Synthetic Materials Industry

Currently, there are more than 150 epoxy resin manufacturers in China. In 2010, China's epoxy resins production capacity totaled 1.73 million t/a, accounting for 79.41% of the global total. Its epoxy resins output was 900 000 tons in 2010, and import volume was 310 000 tons, and export volume was 80 000 tons. By calculation, the country's apparent consumption of epoxy resins was about 1.13 million tons in 2010. And the average operating rate of the country's epoxy resins industry was about 52.0%. The output and apparent consumption of epoxy resins went up by 17.7% and 21.7% year on year, respectively.
   In recent years, China's epoxy resins industry has developed rapidly and become the main driver for the growth of the world's epoxy resin market. China now becomes the world's largest epoxy resins producer and consumer. From 2001 to 2010, China's epoxy resins production, imports, exports and apparent consumption are shown in Table 1.
   At present, China's epoxy resins production capacity is mainly concentrated in eastern and southern China, especially in Anhui, Shandong and Hebei provinces.
   Although China is now the world's largest producer of epoxy resins, high-performance epoxy resin for high-end products are almost all imported from abroad, such as high-performance epoxy coatings, high-performance epoxy adhesives, epoxy resin-based electrical and electronic systems, high-performance fan blades and composite materials for large aircrafts. From 2002 to 2007, due to the rapid development of these areas in China, the country's epoxy resins imports soared from 162 000 tons in 2002 to 282 000 tons in 2010, with an annual growth of more than 15% on average. In 2008, due to the global financial crisis, the demand for epoxy resin declined, and so the import volume of epoxy resin fell, too. China's epoxy resins import volume fell to 217 800 tons in 2009. In 2010, due to the fast growth of demand for high-performance composite materials for large aircrafts and wind blades in China, the nation's imports of epoxy resins soared to 310 000 tons, up 34% year on year.
Table 1  Output, imports and apparent consumption of epoxy resin in China from 2001 to 2010      (thousand t/a, thousand tons)
Year    Output    Imports    Exports    Apparent consumption
2001    86    126    12    200
2002    128    162    20    270
2003    277    199    36    440
2004    310    259    59    510
2005    468    260    78    650
2006    519    274    93    700
2007    656    282    108    830
2008    660    268    108    820
2009    782    218    80    920
2010    900    310    80    1130