Production and Development of POM              By Hu Qizhong , Chen Xinzhong1. Market volumeIt took around 15  years  to  expand  the  domestic  market volume of polyoxymethylene (POM) from 2 000 - 3 000 tons  to  10 000 - 20 000 tons, but  only  5  years  to  expand    from 10 000 - 20  000  tons  to  nearly  40  000  tons.     The consumption  was  only 35  000  tons  in  1996.   However, according to  the  statistics  of  major  producers,   the imported resources reached over 40 000 tons  in  1995  and exceeded 60 000 tons in 1997. The market share occupied by Hoechst in China and the Asia-Pacific Region is 50%. The price of POM in Europe, the United  States and Japan was around 3 000 U.S. dollars per ton or more in the 90's. The price in China and surrounding countries was around 2 000 U.S. dollars per ton. The price difference is the result of market competition and has  led  to  the  re-export of 3 000 - 5 000 tons  of  imported  products.   In future competition,   unfair  elements  will  be  reduced, technical difference will play a more direct role,  market shares occupied by producers will be readjusted,  regional price gap will be minimized and  anti- dumping  activities will be conducted.The  construction  of  3  new  POM  units   in surrounding countries at  the  end  of  the  century  will impact the domestic market adversely.   Investors  in  new units in China mainland should not  have  any  unrealistic expectation of high return on investment.2. Production statusShanghai Resin Plant has a polyformaldehyde capacity  of  1 900 t/a. The output of  resin  and  the  sales  amount  of tripolyformaldehyde for export have kept the plant busy in full-capacity  production.   Jilin  Shijinggou  Integrated Chemical Plant has a capacity of 1 000 t/a.The priority of technical development is on the  renovation of production units. China has  renovated  the  first  two processes (monomer preparation and polymerization).   Long-time operations have been conducted in units with a 1  000 t/a capacity.   Feasible  design  can  be  made  for  unit enlargement, and better  technical  and  economic  indexes have been achieved. In the third process ( post- treatment and granulation), as the technical renovation is  not  yet completed, there are still no  conditions  for  finalizing the technology. The quality of the product made in process transition has passed  the  evaluation  of  joint  venture enterprises in China and European customers.  The  quality of the newly-designed product will at least be as good  as the satisfactory product in the past.3. Development  trendThe annual growth rate of the  POM  demand  in the domestic market is 25.1% in the recent 5 years. However, the actual situation from 1997 to  2000  will  be  a  full reliance on imports. Special attention should therefore be paid to the construction of new polyformaldehyde units. From the late 80's to the early 90's, the  former  Ministry of Chemical Industry and China  Petrochemical  Corporation  both  made   great   efforts   in   introducing   foreign technologies or constructing joint venture projects.   Due to various reasons, however, their efforts were of no avail.  The expansion schemes for the existing two producers have not been implemented in the 90's as planned.   Faced  with high overhead expenses and dumping market price, they have  suspended  production  or  only  maintained  intermittent production.Yuntianhua company completed the key work in 1997 in constructing a 10 000  t/a  POM  unit with the technology from Poland. The unit is  expected  to be completed and put into  operation  in  2000.   With  an investment of 100 million yuan, the project is  the  first large POM unit  in  China  constructed  with state funds. POM is  a  material  with  great consumption in new industries.  Judging  from  the  market volume and demand increase, more inputs should be made  to construct more units.