China's Special Engineering Plastics: Development Trajectory from the Initial Stage to Maturity and Analysis of the Industrial Chain

At present, China's special engineering plastics industry is in a crucial stage of transitioning from a high-speed development period to a mature stage. During this period, the products derived from the industry are rich and diverse, and the application fields are extremely extensive, covering almost all important areas of the national economy. With the continuous increase in government support for the development of the industry, as well as the growing urgency of technological innovation needs, the enhancement of environmental protection awareness, and the deepening of the concept of sustainable development, these have become important turning points in the development process of the special engineering plastics industry.

Under this background, enterprises are paying more attention to the research and development of green environmental protection, sustainable development, and high-performance materials, and are constantly increasing their investment in these fields to adapt to changes in market demand and industry development trends. Looking ahead, with further technological breakthroughs and the continuous evolution of market demand, the special engineering plastics industry will still face a series of new opportunities and challenges. All parties within the industry need to work together and actively respond to achieve the continuous and healthy development of the industry.

I. The Germination Period

1950 - 1979

During this period, China's special engineering plastics industry was still in its initial stage, mainly relying on imports to meet the small domestic demand for special engineering plastics. At that time, although domestic enterprises began to try to introduce and produce some special engineering plastics, such as polyimide (PI) and polyetheretherketone (PEEK), due to multiple constraints such as limited domestic technical levels and foreign technical blockades, the output was extremely low, and the technical content of the products was also relatively low. In terms of applications, the application scope of special engineering plastics was extremely narrow, with only a small amount of applications in some specific high-end fields, and a large-scale market demand had not yet been formed.

II. The Startup Period

1980 - 1999

The spring breeze of reform and opening up brought new opportunities for the development of China's special engineering plastics industry, and the industry entered a stage of rapid development. During this period, domestic enterprises actively responded to national policies and increased their investment in research and development and production. By continuously introducing foreign advanced technologies and equipment, and carrying out digestion, absorption, and re-innovation, enterprises successfully launched more types of special engineering plastic products, and the product variety became increasingly rich. With the increase in product types, the application scope of special engineering plastics has also been significantly expanded, gradually being widely used in high-end fields such as electronics and electrical appliances, automobiles, and aerospace, providing important material support for the development of these industries, and also laying a solid market foundation for the development of the special engineering plastics industry itself.

III. The High-speed Development Period

2000 - 2010

In the first decade of the 21st century, the special engineering plastics industry witnessed explosive and rapid growth. With the continuous improvement of domestic technical levels and the sustained strong market demand, Chinese enterprises have successively accelerated the expansion of production capacity, continuously building and expanding production bases to meet the growing market demand for special engineering plastics. At the same time, enterprises also attach great importance to technological innovation, continuously investing in research and development resources, and launching a series of innovative special engineering plastic products, occupying a favorable position in market competition. With the rapid development of the industry, market competition has become increasingly fierce. Enterprises have gradually realized the importance of brand building, quality management, and market expansion, and have started to actively take measures to strengthen brand promotion, improve product quality, and expand domestic and foreign markets, promoting the overall development level of the industry.

IV. The Mature Period

Since 2011

In recent years, the scale of China's special engineering plastics industry has continued to expand, and remarkable progress has been made in technological research and development, production processes, and quality control by enterprises. Currently, the varieties of special engineering plastic products are rich and diverse, capable of meeting the diversified needs of different industries and fields, and the application fields have further expanded to all important aspects of the national economy.

The development of the industry has received strong support from the government in terms of policies, funds, and other aspects, and technological innovation has also become the core driving force for industry development. Under this background, more and more enterprises have started to focus on the research and development of green environmental protection, sustainable development, and high-performance materials, increasing their investment in research and development, and striving to improve the green environmental protection performance and sustainable development capabilities of their products to adapt to changes in market demand and new trends in industry development. With the continuous development of the industry, the industrial scale has continued to grow, and the export volume has also shown a continuous growth trend. At the same time, the scale of enterprises has continued to develop and expand, the product variety has become increasingly rich, and the technical and quality indicators of some special engineering plastics have reached or even exceeded the advanced levels of developed countries, possessing strong competitiveness in the international market and laying a solid foundation for the international development of China's special engineering plastics industry.

Analysis of the Special Engineering Plastics Industry Chain

The industry chain of special engineering plastics covers three key links: upstream raw material suppliers, midstream special engineering plastics producers, and downstream application customers of special engineering plastics. Among them, upstream raw material suppliers are mainly responsible for providing various raw materials required for the production of special engineering plastics, including petrochemical raw materials and key basic materials such as engineering plastic flame retardants. Midstream special engineering plastics producers focus on the research, development, production, and sales of special engineering plastics, and are committed to providing high-quality and high-performance special engineering plastic products for the market. Downstream application customers are widely distributed, mainly involving high-end fields with extremely high requirements for material performance, such as electronics and electrical appliances, automobiles, aerospace, and medical devices. The demand for special engineering plastics in these fields drives the development of the entire industry chain.

With the increasing environmental protection requirements of society, the special engineering plastics industry is also facing new challenges and opportunities for green development. Under this background, upstream raw material producers have actively responded to the call for environmental protection and attached great importance to the implementation of the concept of green sustainable development. They have continuously optimized production processes, adopted environmentally friendly raw materials, and other means to continuously improve the environmental protection standard indicators of their products to meet the strict requirements of special engineering plastics production enterprises for environmentally friendly raw materials. With the improvement of the environmental protection performance of raw materials, their value has also increased accordingly, providing strong support for the green upgrading of the entire industry chain. From the perspective of downstream demand customers, with the continuous progress of science and technology and the continuous development of various industries, the demand for special engineering plastics in fields such as electronics and electrical appliances, automobiles, aerospace, and medical devices will continue to grow, showing a good upward trend. The continuous innovation drive of these industries will further promote the growth of the demand for special engineering plastics and inject a continuous stream of power into the development of the industry chain.

Upstream Situation of the Industry Chain

Chemical raw materials serve as the cornerstone of the production of special engineering plastics and are of various types. Among them, naphtha, styrene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonate (PC), etc., are all important components. Among these raw materials, petrochemical raw materials play a crucial role. The stability of their supply and the fluctuations in their prices will have a direct and far-reaching impact on the production and manufacturing of special engineering plastics.

Taking naphtha as an example, since October 2021, the price trend of naphtha has been like a roller coaster, with large fluctuations, showing a complex trend of first decreasing and then increasing. By March 2022, the price of hydrogenated naphtha had soared all the way to 9,835 yuan per ton, with a year-on-year increase of 59.7%. In terms of naphtha supply, China is currently a net importer. In the past few years, China's demand for foreign naphtha has always remained at a relatively high level. From 2018 to 2021, China's naphtha import volume remained stable at more than 7 million tons per year. As of 2021, China's naphtha import volume was 7.6107 million tons, showing a decrease of 3.51% compared to the previous year, but the degree of foreign dependence still reached 15.37%. However, it is gratifying that these data reflect that China's foreign dependence in terms of naphtha supply is still within a controllable range.

In order to effectively control raw material costs and reduce the operational risks brought about by fluctuations in raw material prices, at present, some Chinese enterprises have actively implemented the innovation-driven development strategy. Through vigorously carrying out technological innovation and industrial upgrading work, they have successfully overcome the supply problems of some key raw materials and achieved the independent production and supply of key raw materials. Among them, enterprises such as Kingfa Science and Technology Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Wotefull Group Co., Ltd. have performed particularly outstandingly and have become models within the industry. With the continuous improvement of the overall technical level and continuous innovation ability of China's special engineering plastics industry.