2023.07.20
China Propylene Glycol Market Status Analysis Report
(1) Overview of Propylene Glycol
Propylene glycol is a colorless liquid widely used in chemical synthesis, solvent, daily chemical,
pharmaceutical and food industries and other fields. At present, in the Chinese market, there is a large gap
in the high-end propylene glycol products of pharmaceutical and flavor grades, relying on large quantities
of imports, with excess production of low-end industrial grade products, relatively fierce competition among
supply sources in the market, and a large amount of exports. At present, the technical barriers to high-end
propylene glycol still exist, and the large amount of import and export in the domestic market may
continue.
At present, the domestic mainstream propylene glycol and dimethyl carbonate products are all co-produced by
a set of equipment through the propylene oxide transesterification process. The main production process is
that propylene oxide reacts with carbon dioxide to produce propylene carbonate, and then reacts with
methanol to produce Dimethyl carbonate co-produces propylene glycol.
(2) Overview of Propylene Glycol Industry
①Production capacity and supply of propylene glycol industry
According to Zhuo Chuang Information, the production capacity of propylene glycol plants will gradually
decline from 2016 to 2020. At present, the production capacity of the domestic propylene glycol industrial
grade market has been oversaturated, and the production capacity has been slowly and reasonably optimized,
but the demand for pharmaceutical grade propylene glycol continues to exist. As far as the current situation
is concerned, the supply is still relatively loose. Although new production capacity will be released in
2020, given that it will take time for new equipment to transition to normal full production and the
equipment load will not be high due to public events in the first half of the year, propylene oxide will
continue to rise in the second half of the year. Affected by factors such as difficulty in procurement and
difficulty in increasing the load, the overall output has narrowed down compared with last year's forecast,
and the overall start-up is estimated to be around 73%.
Due to the high degree of dependence on raw materials, domestic propylene glycol production facilities are
mainly concentrated in Shandong, where the main raw material propylene oxide is rich. There are a total of 6
companies with a total production capacity of 277,400 tons per year, accounting for 58% of the national
production capacity; followed by North China , a total of 2 companies, with a total production capacity of
80,000 tons/year, accounting for 18% of the country's total production capacity; in South China, Huizhou
Zhonghai Shell has a production capacity of 60,000 tons/year, accounting for 14% of the country's total
production capacity, and only one company in Yulin in Northwest China Enterprise, with a production capacity
of 28,000 tons per year, accounting for 10% of the national production capacity.
②Propylene glycol industry demand and development trend
Propylene glycol has a wide range of downstream fields, and its main application fields are the manufacture
of unsaturated resins (paints and glass-reinforced resins), polyether polyol starters, functional liquids
(antifreeze, deicing agents, heat transfer fluids), food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, Tobacco moisturizing
and other fields, liquid detergents, paint and coating solvents, etc.
Propylene glycol accounts for a relatively small proportion of raw materials for downstream products, and
changes in market prices have little impact on downstream products. At present, the domestic market is still
dominated by unsaturated resins, polyethers, pharmaceuticals and daily chemicals. In the application fields
of unsaturated resins and polyethers, the domestic market for industrial grade propylene glycol is highly
competitive. Manufacturers actively maintain the export market and are still Maintain a certain
international market share; in the field of medicine and daily chemicals, there is still a large gap for
medicine and food grade propylene glycol.
In terms of industrial grade propylene glycol, the mainstream downstream of industrial grade propylene
glycol is mainly unsaturated resins, polyether polyols, and functional liquids. The market economy is weak.
The domestic demand for propylene glycol is weak. Most of them are rigid demand. The demand for industrial
grade propylene glycol is relatively saturated. Manufacturers actively maintain the export market.
In terms of pharmaceutical grade propylene glycol, currently domestically produced propylene glycol products
are mainly industrial grade, and among chemical companies, only China Shipping Shell and Haike Xinyuan
produce pharmaceutical grade propylene glycol. Due to the low supply of high-quality goods such as domestic
pharmaceutical grade propylene glycol, and the relatively wide range of pharmaceutical grade consumption
fields, there is demand in food additives, pharmaceutical intermediates, and cosmetics fields, and the
development momentum is stable. Therefore, the dependence on imports during the year is still high. Demand
large.
In 2020, my country's total import of propylene glycol is estimated to be around 90,000 tons, mainly
pharmaceutical grade propylene glycol and high-quality industrial grade propylene glycol, and the main
import suppliers are Dow from Thailand, SKC from South Korea, Sadara from Saudi Arabia, Leander from the
United States, and Shell from Singapore, etc. International giant. The barriers to the production of
domestic pharmaceutical grade propylene glycol still exist, and the supply is difficult to increase, and the
demand for pharmaceutical grade still maintains a certain increase. With the continuous improvement of
technology, domestic pharmaceutical-grade propylene glycol manufacturers that can achieve stable production
of high-end propylene glycol and actively realize import substitution will gain important development
opportunities