Since the 1990s, the global silicone industry has developed rapidly. In 2013-2017, the global polysiloxane production increased from 1.62 million tons to 2 million tons, with an average compound annual growth rate of 5.8%.


In the past ten years, the increase in global polysilicon capacity has come mainly from China. Due to factors such as raw materials, costs and market, overseas capacity growth has been slow. At present, the global polysilicon production capacity is mainly concentrated in China and Western Europe, North America, Japan, South Korea and other developed countries and regions. In the future, there are still many new plans for China's polysiloxane production capacity. It is estimated that the global polysilicon production capacity will reach 3 million tons/year in 2022, and the output will reach 2.5 million tons.




Source: China Business Research Institute


In 2013-2017, the global polysiloxane capacity increased from 2.32 million tons/year to 2.5 million tons/year, with an average compound annual growth rate of 5.3%. In terms of capacity utilization, it is maintained between 70% and 80%, and the capacity utilization rate is high.




Source: China Business Research Institute


Global organic silicon consumption continues to grow rapidly


Silicone is a new high-performance material. Due to the wide downstream demand, the growth rate of silicone demand has been higher than the global growth rate of GDP. Statistics show that the annual global compound demand for organic silicon is about 5%, while the global GDP growth rate of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) is only 3.55%.


According to the silicone market forecast report, the world organic silicon market will maintain an average annual growth rate of 6% in 2017-2022, and the market size will increase from $14.2 billion in 2017 to $19 billion in 2022. There are two main reasons for the growth of the organic silicon market in the future: First, silicones show their superior performance and role in an increasingly broad field, emerging applications such as new materials, biomedical, new energy, high-end equipment manufacturing and daily necessities. The consumer demand for silicones has maintained rapid growth. Taking silicone liquid glue as an example, the application of this product in medical devices will promote the further growth of the demand of the product on a global scale. The second reason is related to the fast-growing demand in emerging markets such as Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Emerging market countries have low per capita GDP, and there is still a big gap and growth prospects per capita organic silicon consumption compared with developed countries, which will greatly increase the market demand for organic silicon.


Emerging market countries also have huge demand potential


Statistics show that per capita organic silicon consumption is basically proportional to per capita GDP, and that the growth of organic silicon demand in low-income countries is more flexible for income growth. At present, the consumption of organic silicon per capita in emerging market countries such as China is less than 1kg, while that in developed countries and regions such as Western Europe, North America, Japan and South Korea is close to 2kg. In the future, with the development of the economy, the demand for organic silicon in emerging market countries still has huge growth potential. The Asian market represented by China, India, etc. has a large population base and low per capita consumption, and will become the world's major silicone demand in the future. Growth area.