Current situation and prospect of polyurethane industry in China

Polyurethane material is a kind of polymer with repeated urethane chain segment generated by the reaction of organic isocyanate and polyol. Polyurethane products with different properties can be made by choosing different raw materials and different production processes. Products can be very soft foam, can also be extremely hard plastic, according to its shape change can be divided into polyurethane foam, elastomer, microporous elastomer, synthetic leather, fiber, paint, adhesive/sealant, etc., widely used in construction, automobiles, furniture, home appliances, clothing, shoes, bags, machinery and national defense military industry and other fields of national life. Constantly improve people's clothing, food, housing and transportation.

In the 21st century, with the rapid development of downstream applications, the scale of China's polyurethane industry has expanded rapidly, becoming the world's largest production and consumption of polyurethane raw materials and products. By the late period of the "13th Five-Year Plan", the growth rate of polyurethane products consumption in China has slowed down, and the polyurethane industry has begun to enter a period of technological improvement of high-quality development.

In 2022, China's polyurethane products consumption of 12 million tons (containing solvents), slightly lower than the previous year. After the downturn in 2022, the growth rate of China's polyurethane raw material production and product consumption has increased in 2023.

Polyurethane foam is divided into soft foam and hard foam, polyurethane soft foam is mainly used in furniture, automobiles, clothing, etc., polyurethane hard foam is mainly used in refrigerators, freezers, cold storage, pipeline insulation, plate and building insulation and other fields. According to statistics, the consumption of polyurethane foam in China in 2022 is about 4.45 million tons.

Polyurethane coating is easy to cure, excellent performance, mainly used in wood paint, automobile repair paint and waterproof paint. Polyurethane wood paint plays a dominant role in wood paint, polyurethane automotive repair paint accounts for about 40% of the market share, polyurethane waterproof coating growth rate in recent years, the future has a broad room for growth. Polyurethane elastomers have excellent comprehensive properties, mainly including thermoplastic elastomers (TPU), cast elastomers (CPU) and mixed elastomers (MPU). In recent years, TPU demand has grown most rapidly, becoming a substitute for PVC, EVA and other materials in many fields, and the consumption of various elastomers in 2022 is about 1.57 million tons. The excellent performance of polyurethane adhesives/sealants can be widely used in footwear, packaging, construction, automotive and other fields, and has become one of the fastest growing products of polyurethane products in recent years, with consumption reaching 1.13 million tons in 2022, an increase of about 6%.

With the relocation of domestic shoe enterprises, the growth rate of domestic sole liquid has shown a slight negative growth trend in the past three years, and the industry has entered a painful period of transformation and upgrading, and the consumption of polyurethane sole liquid in China in 2022 is about 510,000 tons. Due to environmental protection factors, the development and production of water-based, solvent-free and TPU synthetic leather during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period has become the main direction of polyurethane synthetic leather resin, but the industry is still in the development and integration period of low industrial concentration, low industry profits and market competition incentives, and the consumption of polyurethane synthetic leather resin in China in 2022 is about 1.52 million tons. Polyurethane fiber (spandex) excellent performance, the application field continues to expand, "thirteen five" during the application of spandex has expanded from the traditional functional fabric to clothing fabrics, from underwear to outerwear, etc., the market for differentiated, functional, high value-added spandex fiber demand continues to increase. According to statistics, China's consumption of spandex in 2022 is about 780,000 tons.

The application scale of polyurethane products in China has developed with the downstream demand, and 2001-2018 is the fastest growing period of China's polyurethane industry. In 2019, the total consumption scale of various types of polyurethane products in China reached 11.73 million tons (including solvent). By the late period of the "13th Five-Year Plan", the development of China's polyurethane industry has entered a mature period, and the growth rate of consumption has slowed down, but the investment in scientific research continues to increase, the ability to further enhance independent innovation, the increase of differentiated products, and the market supply is rich. The consumption profile of polyurethane products in China from 2018 to 2022 is shown in Table 1. The average annual growth rate of polyurethane products in China from 2018 to 2022 is only about 1.4%.