High Barrier Material market to grow well in China

High barrier materials can block the penetration of small molecular gas (such as O2, CO2, N2, water vapor), aroma and other organic solvent vapor prominently. By virtue of better barrier performance, polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), ethylene / vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) and polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) are mainly used to produce thin films and containers, and utilized in such fields with higher requirements on barrier properties as food, medicine, military products, cosmetics, pesticides, precision instruments and high-grade fine chemicals; additionally, they are also suitable for the production of vacuum insulation panel materials. In the world, only a small number of companies are capable of producing PVDC, EVOH and PEN which require high-quality raw materials and strict process control, so that the current PVDC, EVOH and PEN markets are dominated by a few oligopolists. As per Research and Market, PVDC raw materials exist in the forms of PVDC resins and latexes. Global PVDC resin producers embrace Dow Chemical (USA.), Solvay (Belgium), Kureha (Japan) and Asahi Kasei (Japan). The global PVDC resin capacity reached 228Kt/a in 2013, and will hit 242Kt/a in 2014. New capacity is mainly contributed by Chinese PVDC manufacturers (but the capacity is not fully released). As of 2014, there has been only two PVDC resin production enterprises in China, namely Zhejiang Juhua and Nantong SKT. Both companies produce PVDC resins used in casing films. In recent years, Juhua has increased investment in PVDC, so that the capacity jumped from 3000 tpa in 2009 to 28000 tpa in 2013 and will further rise to 33000 tpa in 2014. Nantong SKT primarily supplies PVDC resins to Henan Shuanghui(i.e., Shineway Group) for the purpose of casing film production. By the end of 2014, Nantong SKT will add the capacity of 3600 tpa PVDC resins, so the total capacity will reach 13600 tpa. Chinese PVDC resin market presents two characteristics. (1) Limited varieties of PVDC resin products with insufficient output and high import dependence (the import dependence ratio of PVDC resin processing equipment is also high). In 2013, China's apparent consumption of PVDC resin amounted to 53600 tpa, and the ratio of import dependence was 48.5%, compared with the over 50% before 2013. (2) PVDC resin application will continue to extend, and the consumption will maintain rapid growth. In 2014, China's PVDC resin consumption fields are mainly reflected in casing films. As China releases the capacity of plastic wrap PVDC resins and multilayer extrusion PVDC resins as well as enhances the localization rate of PVDC film processing equipment, the future PVDC consumption fields will be enlarged, and the consumption will climb rapidly.