Status quo and Outlook of Chloroprene Rubber Market in China   

By Li Shuping, Shanxi Chemical Industry Information Center

Compared with natural rubber and other types of synthetic rubber, CR has excellent light-fastness, anti-aging and anti-bending performances as well as very good resistance to acids, heat, flame, oil, ozone, abrasion and chemicals. It also has excellent physical and mechanical properties, such as a wide range of accommodable temperature, high elasticity and high strength.
   CR has extensive application because of its excellent performances. Its products are mainly in the form of dry glue and latex. Dry glue products are mainly used in the production of ordinary plastic pipes, automobile tires & parts, transport belts, conveyor belts, tapes, wires & cable sheathing materials, oil-resistant hoses, gaskets, chemical resistant linings and a variety of molds; and latex products are mainly used for the production of adhesives, gloves and coatings.
   According to different manufacturing methods of its monomers, the production processes of CR are divided into the calcium carbide & acetylene method and the butadiene method.
   
1. Status quo of the chloroprene rubber market

1.1 Global CR market
Since DuPont began the commercial production of CR in 1931, there are now only 8 CR producers in the U.S., Germany, Japan, Armenia and China in the world. They have a total production capacity of about 350 000 t/a and a total annual output of about 290 000 tons, with an operating rate of 71.0% (see Table 1).
        
Table 1 Production of CR producers in the world  (thousand t/a)                                  
Company    Location    Capacity    Synthesis method
DuPont    Louisville, KY, USA    43     Butadiene method (to be closed)
LANXESS    Dormagen, Germany    92    Butadiene method
Denk iKagaku Kogyo    Omi, Japan        70    Calcium carbide & acetylene method
Showa Denka    Kawasaki, Japan    25    Butadiene method
TOSOH    Shinnanyo, Japan    34    Butadiene method
Nairit    Yerevan, Armenia    34     Natural gas acetylene method
Shanxi Rubber Group    Datong, China    25    Calcium carbide & acetylene method
Changshou Chemical Ltd    Chongqing, China    28    Calcium carbide & acetylene method
Total        351

   Compared to other types of synthetic rubber, in recent years the global production capacity of CR has grown relatively slowly. Because of its high price, the global demand for CR is overall going down, and this type of rubber is gradually replaced by ethylene-propylene rubber (EPR) and other types of rubber. Such a substitution trend has been particularly evident in automotive parts (this field consumes about 20% of the total CR output). After 2005, with the development of automobile and real estate industries, the production capacity of CR in the Asia Pacific region has grown significantly, but because CR does not have as good performances as EPR, the production capacity of EPR has grown even faster, so the global demand for CR has not increased significantly.

1.2  China's CR market
At present, there are only two CR producers in China, with a total production capacity of 53 000 t/a. The CR unit of Chongqing Changshou Chemical Co., Ltd. (Changshou Chemical) was built in 1958, with a capacity of 28 000 t/a; and the CR unit of Shanxi Synthetic Rubber Group Co., Ltd. (Shanxi Rubber Group) was put into production in 1965, with a capacity of 25 000 t/a. In the late 1960s, Qingdao Chemical Plant once built a 10 000 t/a CR unit. But in the late 1990s, this unit stopped production.
In recent years, the consumption of CR in China has grown relatively fast. From 2003 to 2008, its average annual growth rate was about 2%. Before 2008, the operating rate of the CR plants was very high. But later, due to the global financial crisis, their operating rate declined. In 2009, the output and consumption of CR in China decreased by 13.6% and 9.0% year on year, respectively (see Table 2).
           
Table 2  Supply and demand of CR in China          (thousand tons, %)
Year    Output    Imports    Exports    Apparent consumption    YOY Growth
2005    42.0    26.6    1.0    67.6    -
2006    48.3    24.3    6.6    66.0     -2.4
2007    52.0     23.5     9.5    66.0    0
2008    45.0     23.3     7.2    61.1    -7.4
2009    39.8     19.0     2.7    56.0     -9. 0

   The 30 000 t/a CR plant jointly built by Shanxi Rubber Group and Armenian was put into operation in May 2010. The new 40 000 t/a CR unit built by Changshou Chemical is put into operation in 2011 (see Table 3). Currently, the two companies mainly sell their CR products to overseas markets.

Table 3 Expansion projects of CR in China (thousand t/a)                                            
Company    Capacity    Location    Startup time    Remarks
Shanxi Rubber Group    30    Yanggao, Shanxi province    2010    Calcium carbide & acetylene method
Changshou Chemical    40    Changshou District, Chongqing    2011    Calcium carbide & acetylene method

   It was reported that Sichuan, Shandong provinces and Inner Mongolia region plan to build CR projects with a total capacity of 120 000 t/a (see Table 4). By then, overcapacity will appear in China.
                                     
Table 4 New CR projects to be built in China (thousand t/a)
Location    Capacity    Remarks                     &n