By Li Zhuoxin, OilChem China

Most widely used thin film materials, BOPET could be applied to the fields of packaging and printing materials, electronic information, electrical insulation, etc. At present, around 70% of BOPET is consumed by producers of packaging and printing materials. As for production processes, domestic BOPET firms adopt slice method and direct melting method. China’s BOPET capacity grew rapidly in 2019, and soared 28.6% from 2021 to 2022. During the two years, growth rate of BOPET import volume was 8.8%, that of export volume 1% and that of apparent consumption 16.3%.

Oversupply and deceleration in capacity expansion

China currently has 67 BOPET producers with a combined capacity of 5.04 million t/a. More specifically, Jiangsu boasts a capacity of 1.88 million t/a, accounting for 37% of the nation’s total; Zhejiang, 1.35 million t/a, 27%; Fujian, 455 000 t/a, 9%; Liaoning, 385 000 t/a, 8%; other areas, 20%. Domestic BOPET capacity is in excess after rapid expansion. Hence deceleration in capacity growth. However, domestic BOPET capacity is forecast to increase 14.8% in 2022, when new capacity may reach 774 000 t/a. Balancing supply and demand will be harder. Figure 1 shows domestic BOPET capacity and growth from 2016 to 2022.

Figure1 China’s BOPET capacity and growth during 2016-2022

Price war

Since 2021, BOPET firms have been troubled by severer competition and declining profits both arising from overcapacity. In 2022, the coronavirus impacts operating rates of different industries continually, curbing downstream demand for BOPET. However, operating rates of BOPET firms remain relatively stable. Therefore, a price war begins. Enterprises producing BOPET mainly by the slice method suffer from losses first due to higher production costs, and profits of producers mainly utilizing the direct melting method fall below the bottom line. Take 12μ ordinary printing base film as an example (see Figure 2 for details).

Figure 2 Domestic prices and profit trend of BOPET12μ base film during 2021-2022

Import and export

With a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.3% during 2017-2021, import volume of BOPET reached 360 000 tons in 2021 – more specifically, 100 000 tons or 28% from Japan, 97 000 tons or 27% from South Korea and 65 000 tons or 18% from Taiwan of China. Degree of dependence on import was 11.7% in 2021, down 0.8 percentage points from a year earlier. Imports were mainly high-end films as most domestic BOPET could hardly meet high-end requirements. Domestic BOPET producers have been researching high-end films in recent years, making progresses and decreasing import dependence.

In 2021, 438 000 tons of BOPET were exported to Vietnam (64 000 tons, 15% of the total), Taiwan of China (38 000 tons, 8.7%), Japan (36 000 tons, 8.2%), etc. CAGR of export volume reached 3.1% during 2017-2021. Figure 3 shows import and export of BOPET during 2017-2021.

Figure 3 Import and export of BOPET during 2017-2021

Three development trends of BOPET industry

     While producing base films, BOPET producers should manufacture high value-added products and enhance product differentiation by means of deep processing technologies regarding aluminizing, coating, etc. Another trend is to break through technical barriers to produce high-function products, which will meet different requirements, and help enterprises improve competitiveness. At present, capacity of high-function films is insufficient. Further, green development will get more attention. Eco-friendly biodegradable plastics – substitutes for plastic products – will develop rapidly. This will greatly heat up development of biodegradable plastic films.