Market Click: Bisphenol A supply will tighten in Asia this year

At present, the price trend of bisphenol A in Asia, especially in China, is still unclear, but market observers predict that the supply of bisphenol A in Asia will be tight this year, mainly due to lower output and strong downstream investment.
In 2005, some newly built bisphenol A plants in Asia were put into operation. Spot prices of epoxy-grade bisphenol A products in Asia, especially in the Chinese market, fell rapidly. In 2006, many newly-built polycarbonate production facilities will be completed and put into operation one after another. However, there is no investment plan for the expansion of the Bisphenol A project. It is expected that the supply and demand balance of bisphenol A will be tight. Newly built and expanded polycarbonates include the 100,000-ton/year polycarbonate unit at Bayer Shanghai Chemical Base planned for production this year, and Teijin’s production capacity of 50,000 tons/year polycarbonate units in Zhejiang expanded to 100,000 tons/year, China Taiwan Chi Mei chemical plant production capacity will increase by 70,000 tons/year.
On the other hand, the operating rate of bisphenol A devices continues to decline. Due to the high profitability of international benzene prices, some bisphenol A companies in Korea and Taiwan are reducing their production of bisphenol A. Among them, the operating rate of Changchun petrochemical plant in Taiwan, China, is only 50%, and the new unit of South Asia Plastics No. 3 is still in a state of production shutdown. South Korea's LG Petrochemical A may cut its production by 20%. Kumho P&B Chemicals also started to consider reducing production.
In 2006, no new expansion of the bisphenol A plant was put into operation in the world, and many production facilities for its downstream products were completed and put into production. Among them, South Asia Plastics' epoxy resin plant in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, will be put into production soon, with a production scale of 100,000 to 130,000 tons/year. year. Experts from the China Epoxy Resin Industry Association stated that the demand for bisphenol A in the region is currently increasing substantially, and supply will inevitably become tense.