Abstract: The paper summarizes ABS resin production capacity, actual output, market demand and price both at home and abroad, analyzes the actuality and development trend of ABS Resin plants, and introduces ABS resin research & development and technology progress.
Key words: ABS Resin; Production; Market; Progress
1. Production
1.1 World
In 2020, there was no new capacity of ABS resin in the world, and the total capacity of ABS was about 11.85 million t/a. As the world’s largest ABS resin manufacturer, Chimei Corporation has a total capacity of 2.1 million t/a, including 1.35 million t/a in Tainan and 750 kt/a in Zhenjiang. As the world’s second-largest ABS resin manufacturer, LG Chem has a total capacity of 1.95 million t/a, including 900 kt/a in South Korea, 750 kt/a in Ningbo, China, and 300 kt/a in Huizhou, China. As the world’s third-largest ABS resin manufacturer, INEOS Styrolution has a total capacity of 1.35 million t/a in 9 countries. As the world’s fourth-largest ABS resin manufacturer, Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corporation has a total capacity of 860 kt/a, including 410 kt/a in Taiwan and 450 kt/a in Ningbo. As the world’s fifth-largest ABS resin manufacturer, PetroChina has a total capacity of 700 kt/a, including 600 kt/a in Jilin Petrochemical Company and 100 kt/a in Daqing Petrochemical Company. The production capacity of the five major producers reaches 6.96 million t/a, accounting for 58.7% of the total global production capacity. For the world’s major ABS resin manufacturers and their production capacity in 2020, see Table
| No. | Manufacturer | Plant location | Capacity/ (10 kt/a) |
| 1 | Taiwan Chimei Corporation | Mainland and Taiwan of China | 210.0 |
| 2 | LG Chem | Korea, China | 195.0 |
| 3 | INEOS Styrolution | South Korea, Belgium, United States, Germany, Mexico, Thailand, Spain, India, Brazil | 135.0 |
| 4 | Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corporation | Mainland and Taiwan of China | 86.0 |
| 5 | PetroChina | China | 70.0 |
| 6 | Lotte chemical (Samsung) | South Korea | 55.0 |
| 7 | Techno-UMG | Japan | 43.0 |
| 8 | Toray | Japan, Malaysia | 42.0 |
| 9 | Tianjin Dagu Chemical Co., Ltd. | China | 40.0 |
| 10 | SABIC Innovative Plastics | United States, Mexico | 35.5 |
| 11 | Transco | United States, Netherlands, China | 32.5 |
| 12 | Kumho Petrochemical | South Korea | 25.0 |
| 13 | The Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company | Iran | 20.0 |
| 14 | Sinopec Shanghai Gaoqiao Petrochemical Company | China | 20.0 |
| 15 | Sinochem Holdings | Spain | 18.0 |
| 16 | IRPC | Thailand | 18.0 |
| Other | 140.0 | ||
| Total | 1185.0 |
| Company | Place | Capacity / (10 kt/a) | Remarks |
| Toray | Malaysia | 7.5(Expanded) | Completed in 2021 |
| INEOS Styrolution | Mexico | 7.0(Expanded) | To be determined (TBD) |
| Texas, USA | 10.0(New) | TBD | |
| Ningbo, China | 60.0(New) | Completed in 2023 | |
| Samsung | Lishui, Korea | 4.0(Expanded) | TBD |
| LG Chem | Lishui, Korea | 10.0(Expanded) | TBD |
| Total | 98.5 |
1.2 China
In 2020, there was no new capacity of ABS in China, so China had the total ABS resin capacity of 4115 kt/a still and the total output of 4123.2 kt. Most domestic ABS plans maintain high load production and have the operating rate of about 101.3%.
The emulsion grafting and mixing method is used by most of the enterprises in the ABS resin industry in China. The continuous bulk polymerization method is used only by North Huajin Chemical Industries Group Corporation, Guangxi Keyuan New Material Co., Ltd., Sinopec Shanghai Gaoqiao Company, Trinsco (Zhangjiagang) and Zhenjiang Chimei, with the total capacity of 565 kt/a, accounting for 13.7% of total domestic ABS production capacity.
For the main ABS resin manufacturers and their production capacity in 2020 in China, see Table 3.
| No. | Manufacturer | throughput /(10 kt· A-1) | Output / 10 kt | Operating rate /% |
| 1 | Zhenjiang Chimei Chemical Co., Ltd. | 80.0 | 70.0 | 87.5 |
| 2 | Ningbo LG Yongxing Chemical Co., Ltd. | 75.0 | 77.1 | 102.8 |
| 3 | PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Company | 60.0 | 64 | 106.7 |
| 4 | Formosa Chemicals Industries (Ningbo) Limited Company | 50.0 | 50.1 | 100.2 |
| 5 | Tianjin Dagu Chemical Co., Ltd. | 40.0 | 47.8 | 119.5 |
| 6 | LG Chem (Huizhou) Chemical Co., Ltd. | 30.0 | 32.0 | 106.7 |
| 7 | Sinopec Shanghai Gaoqiao Petrochemical Company | 20.0 | 18.0 | 90.0 |
| 8 | Shandong Haili Chemical Co., Ltd. | 20.0 | 15.0 | 75.0 |
| 9 | North Huajin Chemical Industries Group Corporation | 14.0 | 14.02 | 100.1 |
| 10 | PetroChina Daqing Petrochemical Company | 10.0 | 12.3 | 123.0 |
| 11 | Trinsco Petrochemical (Zhangjiagang) Co., Ltd. | 7.5 | 7.0 | 93.3 |
| 12 | Guangxi Keyuan New Material Co., Ltd. | 5.0 | 5.0 | 100 |
| Total | 411.5 | 412.32 | 101.3 |
2. Market
China is the largest consumer of ABS resin in the world. In 2020, the total domestic ABS consumption was 6.08 million tons, 220 kt increase over 2019. In the downstream demand of ABS resin, household appliances, office equipment, transportation, light industry, building materials and others account for 58%, accounted for 14%, 13%, 8%, and 7%, respectively. In the market, the main ABS products include Chimei 757K, LG-121H, Jihua 0215A, GE-150 and 0215H, Taihua 15A1, Dagu DG417, etc. Users general require the ABS resin for all purpose, i.e. ABS with good impact resistance, fluidity, stiffness and toughness balance, etc. Although the ABS resin production capacity and output in China have increased rapidly, they are mainly general ABS, accounting for more than 85% of the total consumption, and thereby cannot meet the domestic demand. A lot of ABS still needs to be imported every year. For domestic ABS resin output, import and export and apparent consumption from 2011 to 2020, see Table 5. It is difficult to control the pandemic abroad, so some import orders flow to China to a certain extent. It is expected that the pandemic abroad will continue in 2021, even until the end of 2021. The demand for home appliances abroad will continue to increase, the production and sales of Midea, Gree, AUX and other manufacturers will continue to rise, and the production and sales of new energy vehicles will also continue to increase. Thus, the demand for ABS is expected to exceed about 6 million tons. Table 5 Domestic ABS Resin Supply and Demand from 2011 to 2020| Year | Output, 10 kt | Import, 10 kt | Export, 10 kt | Apparent consumption, 10 kt | Self supply rate, % |
| 2011 | 214.90 | 185.27 | 4.3 | 395.87 | 54.3 |
| 2012 | 210.90 | 166.54 | 4.16 | 373.28 | 56.5 |
| 2013 | 229.72 | 166.99 | 3.13 | 393.58 | 58.4 |
| 2014 | 282.5 | 166.83 | 3.32 | 446.01 | 63.3 |
| 2015 | 326.24 | 162.49 | 2.35 | 486.38 | 67.1 |
| 2016 | 338.3 | 168.56 | 2.82 | 504.04 | 66.6 |
| 2017 | 359.3 | 178.90 | 3.53 | 534.67 | 67.2 |
| 2018 | 365.38 | 172.83 | 3.95 | 534.26 | 68.4 |
| 2019 | 397.17 | 192.37 | 3.79 | 585.75 | 67.8 |
| 2020 | 412.32 | 201.17 | 4.95 | 608.54 | 67.8 |
3. Price
Early in 2020, the ABS market continued to decline. The price fell from 12000 Yuan/t to 11600 Yuan/t, and even 9200 Yuan/t in March. In October, ABS consumption in household appliances and other industries was still high, and the ABS market rose again after a period of fluctuation. At the end of November, the price rose to the highest level of 18600 Yuan/t in the whole year. In December, the high level of ABS market fell back and finally fell to 15000 Yuan/t.
Fig. 1 Price Trend Of Domestic ABS Resin in 2020
In the next few years, there are new expectations for many large plants, and the industry will usher in a development peak. In addition, the downstream automotive and electronics industries have a great demand potential, and the household appliance industry is just in demand. Thus, the ABS supply will exceed demand, and the price competition will be more intense.
4. Import and Export
China’s ABS resin products are mainly general ABS, which cannot meet the needs of domestic speciallity material products. Thus a lot of ABS needs to be imported from abroad every year. In 2020, 2011.7 kt was imported to China, with an increase of 4.57% over 2019, and 49.5 kt was exported, with an increase of 30.61% over 2019. For the import and export of ABS resin in China from 2011 to 2020, see Table 6.
Table 6 import and export of ABS resin in China from 2011 to 2020
Year | Import, 10 kt | Import than last year, % | Export, 10 kt | Export than last year, % |
2011 | 185.27 | -14.60 | 4.30 | -21.82 |
2012 | 166.54 | -10.10 | 4.16 | -3.26 |
2013 | 166.99 | 0.30 | 3.13 | -24.76 |
2014 | 166.83 | 0.01 | 3.32 | 0.06 |
2015 | 162.49 | -2.60 | 2.35 | -23.80 |
2016 | 168.56 | 3.73 | 2.82 | 20.00 |
2017 | 178.90 | 6.13 | 3.53 | 25.18 |
2018 | 172.83 | -3.40 | 3.95 | 11.90 |
2019 | 192.37 | 11.30 | 3.79 | -0.04 |
2020 | 201.17 | 4.57 | 4.95 | 30.61 |
In 2020, the import trade of ABS resin was mainly general trade and feeding processing trade. The feeding processing trade mainly aims at foreign markets, so China is only a processing base.
Table 7 Import Sources of Domestic ABS Resin in 2020
Trading country | Import, 10 kt | Share, % |
Taiwan, China | 82.82 | 41.17 |
South Korea | 65.22 | 32.42 |
Malaysia | 21.54 | 10.71 |
Thailand, China | 10.96 | 5.49 |
Japan | 5.31 | 2.64 |
Saudi Arabia | 4.19 | 2.08 |
Other | 11.13 | 5.49 |
Total | 201.17 | 100 |
5. Development Trend and Suggestions
5.1 Development Trend
At present, the focus of the world refining and chemical industry has shifted eastward. The pattern of China’s refining and chemical industry is changing rapidly. A new pattern of diversified competition among state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, and foreign enterprises is forming and emerging. With the increasing investment enthusiasm and intensity, the refining and chemical industry shows a large-scale, integrated, and clustered development trend, which is driving the blowout growth of ABS production capacity. In the next three years, many new ABS plants with a total capacity of more than 3 million t/a will be launched in China, such as the 600 kt/a ABS plant of Chimei (Zhangzhou), 250 kt/a ABS plant of Formosa Chemicals Industries (Ningbo) Limited Company, 600 kt/a ABS plant of Liaoning Baolai Chemical Co., Ltd., 600 kt/a ABS plant of Jilin Petrochemical Company in Jieyang and Jilin, respectively, 400 kt/a ABS plant of Lihuayi Group (Dongying), and 600 kt/a ABS plant of INEOS Styrolution (Ningbo). In addition, many other manufacturers are interested in investing in ABS plants. Therefore, the ABS market will see very cutthroat competition in the future.
5.2 Suggestion
In 2020, the ABS resin in China experienced a roller-coaster market change, especially in the second half of the year, beyond all expectations. That has prompted ABS production enterprises to maintain ultra-high operating rates and get huge profits. Moreover, many refining and chemical enterprises are eager to enter the ABS industry, which objectively accelerates the arrival of the cut-throat competition pattern.
In the increasingly severe competition, comprehensive competitiveness such as industrial scale, product quality, production cost, marketing channel, profitability, service level, etc., has become the key factor of determining the survival of ABS manufacturers. With the blowout increase of domestic ABS production capacity, the ABS supply will exceed demand in an all-around way. The launch of a large number of low-end products to the market will have a huge impact on the price of ABS products, but it is difficult to impact the share of the high-end market because high-end users never use low-end ABS products in spite of their low price. Therefore, product quality will become the decisive factor to win high-end market share. Thus, the market share can be maintained only by continuously improving the product quality.