Styrene: Integration Accelerated
At the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan, the styrene market started its capacity expansion. Entering the 14th Five-Year Plan, the capacity growth has accelerated significantly. The industrial capacity growth rate exceeded 20% in 2022, and it may continue to increase in 2023. At the same time of the rapid expansion of styrene capacity, the development process of unit integration has accelerated synchronously. At present, the proportion of upstream and downstream integration units in the styrene industry has reached 83.55%, up 7 percentage points from 2018.
Refining and chemical integration, with the advantage of saving costs and reducing consumption, has become an important means for enterprises to improve economic efficiency and market competitiveness. At the same time, with the extension of the industrial chain, not only the economic efficiency has increased exponentially, but also the level of safety and environmental protection has been significantly improved.
The process of capacity expansion and integrated development of the styrene industry has accelerated simultaneously.
Since 2021, the expansion of styrene capacity has accelerated, with a growth rate of over 21% in that year and more than 20% in 2022. In 2023, the capacity expansion of the industry will continue to accelerate. The newly added capacity in 2023 is expected to reach 4.02 million mt, with the capacity growth rate of more than 24%.
At the same time of the rapid expansion of the styrene industry, the process of integrated development has accelerated simultaneously. As shown in the figure below, the proportion of upstream integration units and upstream and downstream integration units in the styrene industry has reached 83.55%, up 7 percentage points from 2018. Non-integration units account for 6.62%, down 1 percentage point from 2018.
With the accelerated release of new capacity in the styrene industry and the slowdown of downstream demand growth, the profits of the styrene industry have declined and losses have occurred. The advantages of saving costs and reducing consumption of integrated units have become more prominent, and the trend of integrated development will be strengthened.
The newly added projects will still focus on integration units in 2023.
In 2023, it is estimated that 9 enterprises will put a total of 4.02 million mt/a of new units into production, including 3.82 million mt/a of upstream and downstream integration units, accounting for 95%, and only 5% of non-integration units. The development of industrial integration is showing a trend.
In the next five years, China's styrene capacity is expected to continue to show a growth trend, but the growth is expected to slow down significantly. It is expected that China's styrene capacity will reach 27.765 million mt/a by 2027, an increase of about 59% compared with 2022. The integration development trend continues, and the proportion of integration units will further increase.
2023 China Styrene Newly Added Capacity
Source: SCI
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