BOPET polyester film industry in China will meet the rapid expansion opportunity

BOPET polyester film industry in China

With the ever-increasing downstream demand and gradual improvement of the industry supply and demand , BOPET polyester film is expected to in a new round of economic cycle.

BOPET polyester film is one of the most promising new materials with high mechanical strength, good optical properties, good electrical insulation properties, high temperature resistance and chemical resistance. BOPET polyester film downstream application industry mainly covers packaging materials, electronic information, electrical insulation, card protection, video film, hot stamping foil, solar energy applications.

At present, the largest downstream application area of ​​polyester film produced by domestic manufacturers is the packaging industry, and packaging film consumption accounts for about 60% of the total output of polyester film. Data show that in 2015 China’s packaging industry’s main business revenue exceeded 1.8 trillion yuan, of which plastic packaging boxes and containers were 171.757 billion yuan and plastic packaging films were 103.18 billion yuan. The agency believes that as the most important downstream demand industry for polyester film, the continued vigorous development of the packaging industry will provide rigid demand for polyester film. In addition, in December last year, the “China Packaging Industry Development Plan (2016-2020)” proposed that by 2020, the localization rate of green and high-performance packaging materials will reach more than 35%, and some of the packaging materials will reach the international advanced level. The production and use of green packaging materials account for more than 50% of the total packaging materials used. With the rapid development of the demand for downstream packaging industry and the increase of supporting policies, China’s BOPET polyester film industry will usher in rapid expansion opportunities.

The demand for BOPET polyester film in China accounted for 33% of the total global demand. The domestic packaging film of BOPET polyester film in the largest demand area belongs to thin film. The production process is relatively simple and the equipment requirements are relatively low. It is also the concentrated area of ​​BOPET polyester film production capacity in China. Thick films are special functional films and the production process is relatively complicated. With the diversification of downstream customers’ product functions and requirements, the functional polyester film products used in specific applications such as electronic products, electrical motors, packaging and decoration, and energy conservation and environmental protection have caused insufficient supply due to the backwardness of domestic technology and production technology. At present still need to import. With the improvement of domestic BOPET film quality and the continuous acceleration of imports and substitutions in the high-end film industry, the export volume of China’s BOPET polyester film is expected to continue to grow.

In recent years, the new production capacity of BOPET polyester film industry has been declining. The growth rate of production capacity in 2015 and 2016 is below 10%. At present, the operating rate of major domestic manufacturers is about 75%, and there is no clear intention to expand production. The agency believes that since the new production capacity of BOPET film requires a construction period of approximately 3 years, it is expected that there will be no new capacity input in the industry in the next few years, and the industry supply and demand pattern is expected to further improve.

With the industry’s supply-side contraction and rising raw material prices and other factors to promote, BOPET polyester film industry will show a recovery trend. PTA and ethylene glycol are the main raw materials for polyester film, accounting for more than 70% of the total cost. The monthly report released by the International Energy Agency recently showed that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has reduced production by 90% of the agreement in the first month after the cut-off agreement came into force, which is a major step in OPEC’s previous production cuts. According to the agency, BOPET polyester film industry is expected to rebound with the promotion of low-cost raw material inventory and the expansion of demand from downstream packaging companies.