Why is PMMA price rising

Preamble：

Recently, the market price of PMMA resin has exceeded the "17,000" mark, rising to a new high in the past three years. In the first quarter, China's domestic PMMA resin prices have risen significantly, reaching 15,600-16,500 yuan/ton in the East China market at the end of March. Entering April, the market focus continued to rise. As of April 17, the mainstream market price in East China was 17,200-17,500 yuan/ton. As of May 6, the price of some brands of PMMA resin has exceeded 20,000 yuan/ton.

Introduction PMMA

As a high molecular polymer, PMMA has the advantage of being highly transparent. Its light transmittance is higher than that of glass. It is the product with the highest light transmittance among polymer transparent materials. Among them, optical grade PMMA has better optical properties, and also has the advantages of high strength, high toughness, insulation, heat resistance, weather resistance, easy processing, etc. Its quality is half that of glass. Therefore, optical grade PMMA can be used to produce flat panel display light guide plates, optical fiber materials, solar cells, automotive lights, consumer electronics, electrical appliances and other products.

The combination of high costs, tight spot supply, and increased demand has caused the current PMMA price to reach the highest level in three years.

The price of MMA, the upstream raw material for PMMA, has increased. As of April 17, the market price of MMA is 14,850-15,100 yuan/ton. The spot supply of MMA in the domestic market is tight. At present, the domestic PMMA particle material factories are limited in operation, resulting in insufficient spot supply and limited spot pressure on the factory. Supported by costs, the quotation was raised.

In the first quarter, some international brand factories were undergoing equipment maintenance. The supply of PMMA was very limited and the price was on the high side. In February 2024, China's PMMA (non-foam plastic boards, sheets, films, etc.) import volume was 4183.42 tons, a month-on-month decrease of 35.78%, and the average import price was 4559.52 yuan/ton, a month-on-month increase of 61.45%.

Due to the current high raw material prices, although the price of PMMA particles has increased, the profit margin is relatively limited due to the high cost. Factory productivity is limited, and the tight supply situation is difficult to alleviate in the short term. The price of PMMA particles is expected to be stable and strong in the near future.

At present, the main consumption areas of PMMA in the world are concentrated in Europe, North America and Asia. Among them, Asia, especially China, has become the largest PMMA consumer market in the world, with an annual consumption of nearly 600,000 tons of primary form products. Global PMMA production capacity is concentrated in leading companies, with the largest production capacities being Rohm, Chimei, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo and Arkema. The production capacity of the top five manufacturers accounts for more than 70% of global production capacity.China's PMMA production capacity accounts for a quarter of the world's production capacity, and the current market supply and demand are basically balanced. In the next two years, China plans to add two new PMMA units with a total production capacity of 110,000 tons/year.

Introduction to 13 PMMA manufacturers in China

1.ROHM Chemicals (formerly Evonik)

Evonik has 18 methacrylate production bases around the world, one of which is in Shanghai, China, with 3,900 employees. The global annual production of methyl methacrylate is 600,000 tons, and the annual production of methyl methacrylate is 400,000 tons. In 2019, Evonik completed the split of its MMA and PMMA businesses (methyl acrylate business), and handed over Evonik's methylation to acrylate business to Advent Capital for 3 billion euros, establishing an independent Company Rohm Chemical.

2.ROHM

ROHM is the world's leading supplier of polymethylmethacrylate chemistry and has established 15 production and development bases on four continents.

In 2019, Rohm marketed its methacrylate monomer products under the brand name, replacing the original Vision Customer brand name. In November 2021, ROHM expanded the PMMA factory in Germany. In December, China invested tens of millions of euros to expand the Shanghai PMMA factory. The expanded molding compound production factory is expected to be fully completed and put into production in my country in the second and third quarters of 2023.

Global demand for Roma PMMA molded products is strong. ROHM has high durability, weather resistance and UV resistance, high color fastness, high brightness and high transparency, and has excellent hardness and scratch resistance. It can be widely used in China Automobile, construction, lighting and household electronic appliances and other industries.

3. Mitsubishi Chemical

Mitsubishi Chemical is the world's largest producer of methacrylates, with production sites across Asia, the United States and Europe.

Diakon and Acrypet are Mitsubishi Chemical's PMMA products and are major research materials in applications such as medical technology diagnostics, cosmetics packaging, light control management, home electronic appliances, and a range of Chinese automotive production parts (including smart lighting and high-gloss trim strips).

Since 1975, Mitsubishi has developed its own polymer design technology and film-forming technology to produce acrylic resin (PMMA resin) films. As a pioneer in the design of acrylic resin films, Mitsubishi Chemical Education has a complete series of cultural products that have been developed through comparative research on thickness, width, and softness to hardness.

In addition, Samac, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Chemical and Saudi Aramco, can produce 250,000 tons of mma and 40,000 tons of pmma per year.

4.AsahiKASEI

Asahi Kasei is a Japanese multinational chemical development industry company. The main products are chemicals and materials science, in addition to textile, residential, building materials, electronics, pharmaceutical and medical businesses.

Asahi Kasei's different acrylic resin (PMMA) DELPET has excellent transparency, surface material hardness and weather resistance.

 Mainly used in the automotive optical product industry and general parts/commodity exterior/interior parts. Asahi Kasei itself also has a high-performance computer grade, such as the high heat-resistant PMMA grade and the BIMODAL grade.

5. Sumitomo　　

  Sumitomo Chemical Asia Pte Ltd (SCA) is Asia's largest integrated manufacturer of MMA (methyl methacrylate) monomer and SUMIPEX (polymethyl methacrylate).

SUMIPEX is a registered trademark of PMMA resin produced by Sumitomo Chemical in Singapore, with an annual production capacity of 150,000 tons. Known for its excellent transparency, weather resistance and excellent optical system performance, it is a high-quality resin that can be used in a wide range of applications, including Chinese automotive product parts, display control panels (used in the production of desktop laptop computer monitors) ), extruded sheets, optical lenses and tableware.

6.CHIMEI

  Chimei Industrial Group Co., Ltd. is a major supplier of plastic and rubber composite materials in the global economy, mainly through product design including: ABS resin, SAN resin, PS resin, MS resin, PC resin, PC/ABS resin, ASA resin , Q glue, PMMA resin, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), polybutadiene and rubber (HBR/LBR), styrene-butadiene synthetic rubber (SSBR)...etc. Among them, ABS resin, PMMA resin, and light guide plates are the world's largest suppliers.

Chimei Acrylic (ACRYREX) PMMA is a Chimei company. With its thirty years of experience in manufacturing acrylic sheets, it has introduced continuous production process control technology from China and the United States, mainly including methyl through methyl acrylate (MMA). Raw materials, and molding compounds that make companies successful, have good weather resistance and heat resistance, extremely high transparency and gloss, and at the same time develop socially stable physical, chemical, optical and electrical properties. Can be widely used in electronic panels, mechanical parts, watch casings, automobile and motorcycle indicators, communication equipment, insulation parts and sunglasses, etc.

7. Kuraray

Kuraray is a Chinese chemical company in Japan, established in 1926. Its main content is resin and fiber products in the production process. It is one of the four largest PMMA resin suppliers in the world.Japan's very Kuraray PARAPET polymethyl is increased by methyl acrylate PMMA.

8.SUZHOU SHUNGXINAG

 Suzhou Shuangxiang Optical Materials Co., Ltd. was established in 2012, with an annual output of optical polymer (methyl methacrylate) resin PMMA of 80,000 tons. Suzhou Shuangxiang's products are positioned as a high-performance optical grade PMMA. The products have been extensively studied and used in LCD light guide plates, LED lighting equipment, optical fiber, aircraft cockpit glass, bulletproof material glass, automobile taillights and other fields. The market development demand information Large and growing rapidly.

 With the completion and commissioning of the Shuangxiang PMMA project in Suzhou, China, the company will become the first domestic enterprise to produce optical PMMA on a large scale, directly breaking the monopoly of foreign giants in the optical PMMA field and reducing the dependence on imports of financial products and services. , making important contributions to the breakthrough and development of domestic corporate culture in this research field.

 In March 2020, Shuangxiang Co., Ltd. issued an information announcement stating that it planned to formally establish a wholly-owned subsidiary through the company to build an optical-grade PMMA/MS new material technology project with an annual output of 300,000 tons. In the future, the economy of scale in the development of my country's optical-grade PMMA industry is expected to continue. growing. 

9. Wanhua Chemical

  Wanhua Chemical is a global new chemical materials company with business covering four major industrial clusters: polyurethane, petrochemicals, fine chemicals, and emerging materials.

   Wanhua Chemical Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) - originated from independent innovation and research and development of petrochemical integrated MMA-PMMA industry chain, relying on leading polymer composite materials for R&D management platform and technology development service capabilities, widely used in my country Automotive intelligent transportation, electronic data display, lighting, electrical appliances and consumer goods and other fields.

   Wanhua Industrial has established a complete industrial chain from liquefied petroleum gas to mma monomer to pmma resin. At present, it has an integrated wood pulp plant with an annual output of 80,000 tons. It is the world's largest single set of integrated wood pulp pellet resin production equipment, and the entire process of raw materials is independently supplied.

10. Huizhou Huiling Chemical

Huizhou Huiling Chemical Co., Ltd. (referred to as HMC) was established on March 16, 2004. It is the largest company in the world that can use C4 for direct oxidation production and methyl through methyl acrylate (MMA) monomer. one. The investor is Mitsubishi Chemical of Japan.

The company uses isobutylene in the raffinate-1 provided by CNOOC and Shell Group as raw material, and adopts the C4 direct oxidation production technology developed by MCC itself, with an annual output of 100,000 tons of MMA. The main equipment is imported from abroad and has the characteristics of low investment, low energy consumption, low pollution, low toxicity and high degree of automation.

11.Shanghai Jingqi

 Shanghai Jingqi Polymer Materials Technology Co., Ltd. was jointly invested and established by Wujing Chemical Industry, a subsidiary of Shanghai Huayi Group, and foreign-funded enterprise development. The company specializes in introducing Young's polymerization technology to produce optical-grade polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) molding plastics, with an annual production capacity of 20,000 tons.

The Chinese characteristics of our company's products are high purity, uniform molecular weight, and relatively low volatile matter and residues. It has high transparency and good heat resistance, can reduce odor in the processing environment, and has no pollution to the mold.

12. Nantong Liyang Chemical　　

 Nantong Liyang Chemical Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Liyang Chemical Co., Ltd. and is a company specializing in polymethacrylic acid.　

  Manufacturers sell polymethyl acrylate (PMMA) resin (60,000 tons/year), acrylic sheets (20,000 tons/year), acrylic coatings and resins. Products have been widely used in automobiles, optical products, household appliances, lighting, building materials and other daily life aspects. 

13. Trinseo

Trinseo is a global environmental materials company specializing in the manufacturing of plastics, latex and synthetic rubber.

 Trinseo is a global leader in the manufacture of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), and its acrylic sheet and resin products range from MMA monomer to PMMA acrylic resin, beads and sheets. Trinseo produces PLEXIGLAS acrylic – one of the most recognized brand names in the world.

14. Arkema　

Arkema's PMMA business is a comprehensive corporate business with 860 employees and 7 production and development sites, including production from MMA to PMMA, as well as in mainland China under the well-known company brand Plexiglas in the Americas and in the world economy. Analytical products are sold in other countries under the brand name Altuglas. In 2021, Trinseo will complete the acquisition of Arkema PMMA business for 1.137 billion euros. Arkema PMMA business will complete the portfolio of Sensi high-performance plastic products (ABS, PC, etc.). Enhance its position in the automotive, construction and lighting markets, medical and consumer electronics.

 QINGDAO PRIME TRADE CO., LTD is a company with more than 20 years of experience that specializes in distributing international brand engineering plastic particles. It mainly represents: Chimei ABS, Hanwha TotalENERGIES PP, SABIC PPO, and PC special materials.