Global chlor-alkali industry is slowly recovering

With the slow recovery of the global economy, the profitability of the global chlor-alkali industry has also been improved. Since the first half of 2010, chlor-alkali production and prices have rebounded in an all-round way, surpassing the quagmire of the lowest operating rate for the past 10 years during the financial crisis in late 2008. As a global emerging chlor-alkali production country, China's chlor-alkali industry operating rate dropped to 50% to 60% in 2009; the US operating rate is only 70% to 80%, and it has been reduced to 50% at the end of 2008; the chlor-alkali industry operating rate in Western Europe was also last year. Only 65% ​​to 75%.

Tecnon OrbiChem, a consulting firm in the United Kingdom, reported that **38% of global production in 2009 was for PVC resin production and became the largest consumer of ** consumption. According to statistics, the current global production capacity is about 76.7 million tons. Last year, the chlor-alkali industry started to take a turn for the worse due to the weakness of the ** and vinyl resin markets, the chlor-alkali industry started to improve this year, and the caustic soda market also increased product prices due to increased demand. The increase in demand for caustic soda was mainly due to the active alumina, wood pulping and soap making industries. Since the beginning of this year, the demand for alumina and wood pulping industry has grown strongly, resulting in the current shortage of caustic soda supply. On the other hand, due to the still weak housing and auto market in the United States, Asian vinyl resin demand is still struggling. The market demand is still weak. Although the demand for the European vinyl industry has improved slightly this year, progress has been slow.

The profit announcement of several US chlor-alkali companies in the second quarter showed that the demand for chlor-alkali in the United States increased significantly compared with 2009 this year. Olin, a Missouri-based company, reported that the company’s operating rate was 83% in the second quarter of 2010, compared with 75% in the first quarter and only 70% in the same period last year. Olin is the third largest chlor-alkali producer in North America, with a total chloralkali capacity of 1.78 million tons per year, second only to Dow Chemical's 3.54 million tons per year and OxyChem's 309 tons per year. PPG's total chlor-alkali capacity It was ranked at fourth place with 1.68 million tons per year.

Olin said that in the second quarter of 2010, the ex-factory price of the company's electrochemical devices (including ** and caustic soda) was US$470/ton, which was 7% higher than the first quarter. Dow Chemical Co. said that if the economic recovery brings housing and auto market demand back to historical levels, it is expected that chloro-alkali demand will continue to rise in the next 12 months. Previously, PPG Industries has announced that it will raise prices again for chlor-alkali products sold in the third quarter. In addition, in order to meet the future market demand for chlor-alkali products, in July this year, Dow announced that it plans to establish a new 800,000-tonne chlor-alkali facility in Mitsui with a joint venture with Japan. North America will also reorganize its production capacity. Olin pointed out that last year North American production capacity has decreased by 2 million tons to 13.6 million tons.

However, during the global economic recession from 2008 to 2009, China’s chlor-alkali production capacity continued to increase. It is reported that by 2011, China plans to expand its caustic soda production capacity by approximately 3.16 million tons, and by 2012, China’s PVC production capacity will exceed 25 million. Ton. In August of this year, two Chinese companies announced that they will build caustic soda and polyvinyl chloride production facilities. Alaer Qingsong Chemical of Xinjiang stated that it plans to build a set of 100,000 tons/year caustic soda plant, which can be expanded to 300,000 tons/year in the later period and is expected to be put into use by the end of 2011; Inner Mongolia Zhonggu Mining Company plans to build 600,000 tons/year of calcium carbide in northern Inner Mongolia Polyvinyl chloride plant and 600,000 tons / year caustic soda plant, these two plants are expected to put into operation in 2012.

In the global chlor-alkali demand continues to flourish, many people in the industry believe that the global chlor-alkali capacity is still in a situation of oversupply. In particular, there are more than 300 projects to be implemented in China. The growth of the chlor-alkali market will mainly come from China, India, Brazil and other emerging markets, but many small-scale chlor-alkali and vinyl resin producers in China are bound to face restructuring and production capacity elimination.