In recent years, the polyester industry has grown rapidly. According to data from Longzhong Information, the domestic polyester industry added 7 new units in the first quarter of this year, with a total new production capacity of 1.95 million tons/year, while the average new production capacity in the first quarter of the past four years was 965,000 tons/year. Judging from Table 1, the new production capacity put into production is still dominated by leading companies, accounting for 74.36%, and the main supporting products are polyester filament (new production capacity accounts for 58.97%).
Table 1 Statistics of polyester production capacity put into production in the first quarter of 2022, 10,000 tons/year
Due to the surge in demand for PTA, domestic polyester production capacity continues to expand, growing from 50.55 million tons/year in 2017 to 66.975 million tons/year in 2021. 2022 is still the period when polyester production capacity will be intensively put into operation. According to statistics from relevant agencies, the domestic polyester planned new production capacity in 2022 is 7.14 million tons/year, including 2.78 million tons/year of filament and 4.36 million tons/year of short fiber. Details See Table 2.
Table 2 Statistics of new domestic polyester production capacity in 2022
“Improving the upstream and strengthening the downstream” has become a strategic choice
In recent years, the development of the polyester industry has shown the characteristics of large-scale and clustering. According to statistics, there are currently 9 domestic polyester companies with more than 2 million tons of polyester, and their total production capacity is 37.1 million tons/year, accounting for the total domestic polyester production capacity. About 55%. Many private enterprises are actively deploying the entire industrial chain of crude oil-PX-PTA-polyester-textile factories. Almost all of the top ten domestic PTA manufacturers play the role of upstream and downstream integrators in the industry. See Table 3 for details.
Table 3 Production capacity of China’s top 10 polyester manufacturers 10,000 tons/year
“Improving the upstream and strengthening the downstream” has become an inevitable strategic choice for the polyester leader. Hengli Petrochemical, Tongkun Petrochemical, Rongsheng Petrochemical and Hengyi Petrochemical are the four leading private chemical fiber companies in China. The four major private companies have continuously extended the industrial chain to produce PTA and even upstream PX through the construction of refining and chemical integration projects, creating ” The whole industrial chain layout of crude oil-PX-PTA-polyester-polyester yarn.
Small and medium-sized enterprises should adhere to the “specialized, specialized and innovative” route
Under the situation of normalized epidemic prevention and control, coupled with the impact of the complex and changeable international economic situation, competition in the polyester industry will become increasingly fierce in the future. Especially in 2022, the escalation of geopolitical conflicts and global inflation have led to high oil prices. Currently, there is a clear separation between the upstream and downstream of the polyester industry. Upstream profits are relatively concentrated, while downstream profits are extremely low. The industry shows characteristics such as high inventory and low profits. How the polyester industry will develop in the future is thought-provoking!
In the future, the industrial advantages of polyester leaders will continue to increase, the corresponding product types will continue to be enriched, the granularity of enterprise operations will be refined, and cost control will become more stringent. Polyester production enterprises will lengthen and broaden the industrial chain through horizontal or vertical integration. , companies with large scale, strong strength and complete industrial chain supporting facilities will have more say. Therefore, in the future polyester industry, brand effect and large-scale development will be important bargaining chips for companies to compete for the market.
It is understood that the current proportion of domestic polyester small and medium-sized enterprises is still 50% to 60%. Polyester giants are working hard to develop and lead the market development direction. In the future, small and medium-sized enterprises should firmly follow the development route of “specialization, specialization, innovation”, lock in certain subdivided areas in which they are good at, and seek and persist in unique ways of operation and development. Only in this way can we get our own “piece of the pie” in the fierce market competition. For those small and medium-sized enterprises that stick to old rules, have popular products, and have limited innovation capabilities, the pressure to survive will be increasing.
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