Demand for Catalysts in China will Increase to US$2.2 BLN in 2014

Demand for catalysts in China is projected to increase 11.3% per year to US$2.2 billion, or 295 500 tons, in 2014. Demand will benefit from the ongoing industrialization and modernization of the Chinese industrial complex; increasing demand for motor fuels; China's growing position as a producer of plastic resins and products; and expanded demand for a variety of basic chemicals, fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
   The largest market for catalysts in China is chemical synthesis. Demand more than doubled from 2004 to 2009 as China's chemical industry raced to expand capacity in an effort to satisfy both rapidly rising domestic chemical consumption and strong export demand. Organic synthesis catalyst demand in particular has jumped in recent years as Western pharmaceutical manufacturers have turned to China in an effort to reduce manufacturing costs. The greatest portion of China's chemical industry, however, is still dedicated to basic chemical production. Consequently, demand for non-organic synthesis chemical catalysts has also grown at a rapid pace in recent years. Going forward, chemical synthesis catalyst demand will continue to rise at doubledigit annual rates, driven primarily by increases in synthesis gas catalysts, as well as in petrochemical production.
   The polymerization catalyst market in China is the second largest. Growth in polymerization catalyst demand exceeded even that of the chemical synthesis market over the 1999 to 2009 time period, as China's manufacturing industry evinced a nearly insatiable demand for polymers. This is expected to remain the case going forward, and polymerization catalysts will achieve the fastest growth of the three main markets. Growth will slow from the previous period as the large size of China's polymer industry makes it difficult to maintain the same rapid pace of expansion. However, as Chinese polymer manufacturers face growing competition from the Middle East and other low cost producers in the Asia/Pacific region, they will increasingly turn to new, higher-value catalysts in an effort to compete. This in turn will support healthy average price growth and double-digit annual increases in value demand.