Since 2000, the global consumption of polystyrene has slowed down. Compared with 1999, the consumption has only increased by 1.4%, which is the lowest growth rate in recent years. Especially affected by the Asian financial crisis, the countries and regions with the largest reduction in production are also concentrated in Asia. In 2003, the world's total polystyrene production capacity was 6.5438+0426 million tons/year, and the output was 6.5438+0080.110,000 tons/year, of which the North American production capacity was 3.252 million tons/year, accounting for 22.8% of the world's total polystyrene production capacity. The output is 2510.3 million tons/year, accounting for about 23.3% of the world's total output; South America's production capacity is 666,000 tons/year, accounting for about 4.8% of the global total production capacity; The output is 40 1 10,000 tons/year, accounting for 3.7% of the world's total output; The production capacity of Western Europe is 2.954 million tons/year, accounting for about 20.7% of the world's total production capacity; The output is 2.627 million tons/year, accounting for 24.3% of the world's total output; The production capacity of Northeast Asia is 4.892 million tons/year, accounting for about 34.3% of the world's total production capacity; The output is 3.738 million tons/year, accounting for 34.6% of the world's total output; The production capacity in Southeast Asia is 973,000 tons/year, accounting for about 6.8% of the global total production capacity; The output is 710.5 million tons/year, accounting for about 6.6% of the world's total output; The production capacity of other regions is 6.5438+0.525 million tons/year, accounting for about 654.38+00.7% of the world's total production capacity; The output is 807,000 tons/year, accounting for 7.5% of the world total output.
In 2003, the total polystyrene consumption in the world was 6.5438+0.0889 million tons, of which the consumption in North America was 2.505 million tons/year, accounting for about 23.0% of the total polystyrene consumption in the world. The consumption in South America is 445,000 tons/year, accounting for 4. 1% of the world's total consumption. The consumption in western Europe is 2.269 million tons/year, accounting for about 20.8% of the total consumption; The consumption in Northeast Asia is 4.092 million tons/year, accounting for about 37.6% of the consumption; The consumption in Southeast Asia is 498,000 tons/year, accounting for about 4.6% of the total consumption; The consumption in other regions is 6,543,800 tons/year, accounting for 9.9% of the total consumption. It can be seen that the production and sales of polystyrene in North America and South America are basically balanced, and there is a slight surplus in Western Europe, while Northeast Asia still needs to rely on imports to make up for the shortage.
World polystyrene is mainly used to produce packaging containers, daily necessities and electrical/electronic products. The consumption structure of polystyrene varies around the world. About 9% of North America is used in electrical/electronic industry, 57% in packaging containers and 34% in other fields. About 15% in western Europe is used in electrical/electronic industry, 48% in packaging containers and 37% in other fields. About 49% of Northeast Asia is used in electrical/electronic industry, 20% in packaging containers and 365,438+0% in other fields. About 63% of China is used in electrical/electronic industry, 7% in packaging containers and 30% in other fields.
existing problems
With the continuous innovation in the field of terminal applications, the main downstream products of polystyrene (PS) are gradually being replaced and may disappear in the future. This prompted some regional manufacturers to completely withdraw from the business, and the PS industry was gradually stifled.
A resin manufacturer in Taiwan Province Province, China, said: "The market lacks new fields that need a lot of PS, so the demand for PS will gradually decline, which is not only caused by the global economic crisis."
Polycarbonate (PC), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polymethylmethacrylate have been widely used to replace PS in the production of new game machines, mobile phones and MP3 players. The application of PS is limited to low-end products, such as food packaging, toys, clothes hangers, containers and some consumer electronics products. However, even in these fields, PS may be gradually replaced by cheaper raw materials such as polypropylene.
As an important market for PS, the demand in China has been declining since 2003, with the demand exceeding 2.6 million tons in 2003 and dropping to 2.3 million tons last year. Japan's PS market demand has also fallen sharply, especially in the fields of electronics and industrial applications. The production bases of major PS customers in Japan have gradually shifted overseas, resulting in the inability to recover the domestic PS demand in Japan.
The comprehensive production capacity of the original four PS manufacturers in Japan is 165438+ 10,000 tons/year, accounting for about 70% of their domestic market. The Japanese polystyrene company, a joint venture between Mitsui Chemical and Sumitomo Chemical, recently announced that it will withdraw from the PS business in September this year, when there will be only three companies engaged in PS business in Japan. Mitsui Chemical and Sumitomo Chemical said that the company had decided to quit the PS business because it was in a very difficult situation and could not obtain stable income in the medium and long term. A manufacturer said that it is expected that the demand for PS in Japan will drop by 6.5% ~ 7.0% to about 700,000 tons this year, and the withdrawal of Japanese polystyrene company will make the supply and demand situation more balanced.
At the same time, Mitsubishi Chemical will also withdraw from its joint venture with Asahi Kasei Chemical Co., Ltd. and Chu Guang Sheng Xing Co., Ltd.-polystyrene Japan Company. The company's production capacity is about 445,000 tons/year, ranking first among the four major Japanese manufacturers. Despite the weak demand, Dainippon Ink & Chemical Company (DIC) and Toyo Styrene Company (a joint venture of Nippon Steel, Denka and Dasailu) will continue to produce PS.
In addition, the German chemical giant BASF also gave up the PS business. As early as July 2007, it announced the sale of various styrene devices, including PS devices. In September 2008, the lighting company PS Malaysia also stopped the production of 30,000 tons/year general polystyrene. In April this year, Dow Chemical Company closed its 6,543.8+200,000 tons/year PS factory in eastern China indefinitely.