China will continue to be a net importer of Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene, ABS, until 2022, primarily due to growing demand from the household appliances, electrical and electronics, automotive and industrial sector, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The company’s report, ‘Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene, ABS, Industry Outlook in China to 2022 – Market Size, Company Share, Price Trends, Capacity Forecasts of All Active and Planned Plants’, forecasts that imports of ABS are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate, CAGR, of 7.2% from 1.790 million tons per annum, mtpa, in 2017 to 2.531 mtpa in 2022.

Dayanand Kharade, Petrochemicals analyst at GlobalData, said: “The ABS industry in China is expected to grow with increasing demand from the household appliances, electrical and electronics, automotive and industrial sector. China is likely to continue to be a net importer, importing around one third of its demand during the forecast period.”

GlobalData reveals that the demand value for ABS is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6% from US$9.6 billion in 2017 to $12.9 billion in 2022. The average price of ABS is forecast to increase at a CAGR of 2.5% from $1,875.8/ton in 2017 to $2,122.9/ton in 2022. China ABS imports as percentage of demand is forecast to increase from 34.9% in 2017 to 41.7% in 2022.

According to the report, ABS plant capacity in China is expected to increase from 3.730 mtpa in 2017 to 3.880 mtpa in 2022, at a CAGR of 0.8%. The largest ABS plants in China are Ningbo LG Yongxing Chemical Company Ningbo ABS Plant, Formosa ABS Plastics Ningbo ABS Plant, Zhenjiang Chimei Chemical Zhenjiang ABS Plant 2, Jilin Petrochemical Company Jilin ABS Plant 2, and Tianjin Dagu Chemical Company Tianjin ABS Plant.

The country’s major companies are Chi Mei Corp, China National Petroleum Corp, Formosa Plastics Group, LG Chem Ltd and Tianjin Daxie Chemical Co Ltd. Together they accounted for 77.3% of the ABS capacity in 2017.

Kharade concluded: “Household appliances, electrical and electronics, automotive and industrial sector, which together accounted for 95.1% of the ABS demand in the country last year, will continue to drive the Chinese ABS imports over the next five years.”

– Nov. 2, 2018 @ 15:25 GMT |