2024 Annual Hotspots and Events in China's PC Industry

1. The prosperity of the domestic PC industry continued to improve, and the utilization rate and output of the device capacity reached a record high

In 2024, with the further advancement of the production time of most domestic PC devices and a significant reduction in new production capacity, coupled with the fact that upstream raw materials are still in a concentrated capacity expansion cycle, the level of industrial chain integration continues to improve. The Chinese PC industry continues to operate profitably, and the utilization rate and output of device capacity have reached new historical highs. The industry has entered a more stable development stage, and the prosperity has continued to improve significantly compared to last year.

According to statistics from Longzhong Information, from January to October 2024, the average capacity utilization rate of the domestic PC industry was 75.55%, an increase of 7.28% year-on-year, and the output was about 2.53 million tons, an increase of more than 19 percentage points year-on-year; At the same time, the industry continues to maintain good and reasonable profits, with an average profit of 436 yuan/ton from January to October, which is strongly compared with the sustained losses of upstream phenol ketone and bisphenol A, and is the best product for the profit chain.

2. Sichuan Tianhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. acquired "Sichuan Zhonglan Guoplastic New Material Technology Co., LTD.", and the enterprise made a new appearance in early February

The original "Sichuan Zhonglan Guo-Plastic New Material Technology Co., LTD." 100,000 tons/year non-phosgene PC device has been put into production since 2019, due to poor market conditions, in the few years after production, the enterprise operation has been tested, and phased start-stop has almost become the norm. On November 7, 2023, Lutianhua issued a listed company announcement: due to the product and market less than expected, raw material costs continued to rise, etc., serious difficulties occurred in operation and management, in order to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of shareholders, the shareholders' meeting of China Blue Country Plastics resolved to independently dissolve China Blue Country Plastics and orderly liquidation. On November 9, Sichuan Zhonglan Guoplastic PC device parking entered the liquidation stage, after the listing auction, was acquired by Sichuan Tianhua Chemical Group Co., LTD. After the device equity was finalized, it entered nearly a month of maintenance, and restarted in early February 2024, PC products returned to the market with a new enterprise.

3. Hengli Petrochemical 260,000 tons/year PC equipment is put into operation, filling the PC supply gap in Northeast China

In April, 024, Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Co., Ltd. put into operation 260,000 tons/year PC device, becoming the first PC device in Northeast China, which also adopts non-phosgene production process and supports 480,000 tons/year bisphenol A device upstream. At this point, the Northeast has become the sixth PC production region in China, and the domestic PC production units have reached 17 sets, with a total production capacity of 3.74 million tons/year.

Since 2018, the domestic PC industry has ushered in a period of centralized capacity expansion, and production devices have blossomed everywhere. In addition to East China, PC devices have emerged in Southwest, Central, North and South China, and the production of PC devices by Hengli Petrochemical has filled the gap in PC supply in Northeast China. Considering the geographical location of Northeast China and the rarity of downstream consumer industries, The production of the device will intensify the cross-flow of domestic regional supplies, in addition to the North and East China market will also form a significant impact.

4. Announcement No. 13 of 2024 of the Ministry of Commerce, Announcement on Final Ruling of Anti-dumping Investigation on Imports of Polycarbonate Originating in Taiwan Region

On April 19, 2024, the Ministry of Commerce issued Announcement No. 13 of 2024, which finally ruled that the investigated product was subject to dumping, causing substantial damage to the polycarbonate industry in mainland China, and there was a causal relationship between dumping and substantial damage. According to Article 38 of the Anti Dumping Regulations, the Ministry of Commerce proposed to the Tariff Commission of the State Council to impose anti-dumping duties. Based on the proposal of the Ministry of Commerce, the Tariff Commission of the State Council made a decision to impose anti-dumping duties on the investigated product from April 20, 2024, and impose anti-dumping tax rates ranging from 9% to 22.4% on Taiwan companies. The implementation period for imposing anti-dumping duties on the investigated product is 5 years from April 20, 2024.

On August 14, 2023, the Ministry of Commerce issued a preliminary ruling notice, determined that polycarbonate originating in Taiwan is dumping, decided to impose a 16.9%-22.4% margin on polycarbonate products in Taiwan from 15, since the implementation of provisional anti-dumping measures after the next month, that is, from September 2023, the mainland's imports of Taiwan PC significantly decreased. From January to September 2024, the mainland's imports of PCS to Taiwan were only 116,900 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 42%.  The collection of anti-dumping duties on Taiwan's PC will continue to inhibit Taiwan's PC exports to the mainland, accelerate its PC products from the mainland market, and promote the replacement of domestic materials in downstream applications.

5. Domestic PC exports to a new level, Shandong Province led the main force of domestic PC exports

In recent years, with the continuous improvement of PC localization and overcapacity, domestic PC exports have continued to grow, with an average export volume of over 300000 tons in the past three years. In 2024, the competition in the domestic PC market has become increasingly fierce, and many domestic PC factories are actively exploring and developing overseas markets. Domestic PC exports have further increased, with a cumulative export volume of 354200 tons from January to September, an increase of 29.74% compared to the same period last year. Among them, the export volume in March surged to 45400 tons, an increase of 8.61% and 56.55% on a year-on-year basis, setting a record for the highest monthly export volume in history. Shandong Province, as the largest PC production province in China, has seen a rapid increase in PC exports in recent years and has now steadily risen to become the second largest PC export registration place in China. And the gap with the top ranked city of Shanghai continues to narrow.

Since 2023, the average monthly export volume of domestic PC is 34,100 tons, of which, the average monthly export volume of Shandong Province is 8,700 tons, and the cumulative export volume from January to September this year reached 84,300 tons, accounting for 24%. Based on the current situation of PC supply in Shandong Province and the overseas export of main production enterprises, it is expected that there is still a large room for growth in the future.

6. Cangzhou Dahua polycarbonate (PC) products successfully obtained the EU REACH certification

In the fourth quarter of 2024, Cangzhou Dahua completed the EU REACH regulation certification of polycarbonate (PC) products, and the first batch of 51 tons of PC products were sent to Europe, marking that Cangzhou Dahua PC products meet the European safety and environmental standards and have the EU market access qualification, laying a solid foundation for enterprises to expand the global market. At the same time, it also has a positive impact on the global influence of China's PC industry chain.  In the next three years, Cangzhou Dahua will launch long-term procurement cooperation with Sinochem International's overseas companies, accelerate the market expansion of the company's PC products in Europe, promote the internationalization of the brand, and enhance the international competitiveness of China's PC industry chain.

7. Zhangzhou Qimei Chemical Co., Ltd. 180,000 tons/year PC equipment was put into production in November, and domestic PC foreign-funded enterprises added new members

In November 2024, Zhangzhou Chi Mei 180,000 tons/year PC device was put to test. Since then, the number of PC manufacturers in East China has reached 9, the number of domestic and foreign-funded PC manufacturers has increased from 3 to 4, and the total production capacity of China's PC industry has reached 3.97 million tons/year, an increase of 15.74% over 2024.

It is reported that Zhangzhou Chi Mei PC production plant is located in Fujian Zhangzhou Gulei Petrochemical base overall development planning petrochemical industry zone, the use of German EPC non-phosgen production process package, the construction of a 180,000 tons/year PC production line, the total investment of the project is about 2.85 billion yuan.