Methanol leads hike in China H1 chem output

25 July 2007 03:24  [Source: ICIS news]

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--China’s methanol output reached 4.6m tonnes in the first half of the year, up a sharp 34.1% compared with the same period a year ago on growing demand from downstream sectors and emerging industries, the National Bureau of Statistics said late on Tuesday.

 

Formaldehyde, as the main downstream user of methanol, has seen steady growth propelled by increasing demand from thermosetting resins, methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) and polymethylene oxide (POM).

 

China was expected to add 2m tonnes/year of new formaldehyde capacity by 2010 to reach 14m tonnes/year on expected output of 10m tonnes/year in 2010, the National Formaldehyde Industry Association said.

 

Output of acetic acid, another major derivative of methanol, has also grown fast, surging by 56% to 1.4m tonnes in 2006 from a year ago, the National Acetic Acid Industry Association said.

 

Rising demand from purified terephthalic acid (PTA), acetic ether, vinyl acetate, chloroactic acid and acetic anhydride contributed to the hike.

 

In addition, huge potential from emerging sectors, such as methanol/dimethyl ether (DME) fuels and methanol-to-olefins, would also play an important role in boosting methanol demand, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association (CPCIA) said.

 

On the whole, China’s methanol demand was estimated to reach 18-21m tonnes/year by 2010, while the country was expected to bring on stream 12m tonnes/year of new methanol capacity by the same year.

 

Total national capacity and output is estimated to reach 25m tonnes/year and 18m tonnes/year respectively, CPCIA said.

 

In the first half of this year, benzene output also saw significant growth of 29% to 2.2m tonnes, the bureau said.

 

First-half output of calcium carbide, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polypropylene (PP) increased by more than 20% to 6.9m, 4.7m and 3.5m tonnes respectively, while PP fibre output fell 6.3% year on year.

 

Products		June, 2007			1H, 2007
		Output (kt)		% change*	Output (kt)	% change*
Inorganic chemicals
Sulfuric acid		4,701		16.9	25,781	11.8
Nitric acid		183		31.6	957	15.3
Hydrochloric acid		592		3.7	3,658	5.9
Caustic soda		1,461		17.1	8,398	17.3
Soda ash		1,403		11.4	8,355	10.7
Calcium carbide		1,273		12.7	6,873	24.1
Organic chemicals
Ethylene	884		18.4		5,276	18.7
Benzene	386		33.1		2,217	29.0
Methanol	767		16.4		4,595	34.1
Glacial acetic acid	123		10.9		730	1.6
Synthetic material
Synthetic resin and co-polymer	2,618		25.5		14,917	19.5
-PVC	804		20.6		4,735	22.5
-PE	590		27.1		3,467	19.8
-PP	603		29.7		3,452	20.9
Polybutadiene rubber	39		0.3		220	4.0
Caprolactam	29		6.5		158	6.4
Polyester	903		19.1		5,070	14.6
Chemical fibre	2,132		18.2		11,540	17.9
-Polyamide fibre	101		32.2		500	17.1
-Polyester fibre	1,667		17.8		9,014	17.3
-Acrylic fibre	75		1.4		467	13.6
-PP fibre	22		2.8		113	-6.3
Fertiliser	5,162		5.0		28,783	12.3
Plastic product	2,998		13.2		14,718	15.0

*% changes are year on year

Source: National Bureau of Statistics

By: Becky Zhang
+65 6780 4359

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