Capacity Expansion Is Still In The "Cold Winter" Caprolactam Down And How To Break?

In December 6th, Yueyang caprolactam industrial chain relocation and upgrading transformation and development project started. Founded in 1989, the Baling Petrochemical caprolactam division is located in the central urban area of Yueyang, with an annual capacity of 300 thousand tons. However, bottlenecks such as low integration and poor upstream and downstream scale restrict its development. In order to more effectively meet the market, Hunan, Yueyang and the Sinopec Group, baling Petrochemical Industries Co docking, decided to move through the new construction. Expansion of caprolactam production scale to Sixty Ten thousand tons / In 2013, and doubling production capacity at the same time, reduce emissions of 2/3 pollutants. 。

At the signing ceremony of the day, the Yueyang municipal government signed the agreement on the relocation and upgrading of caprolactam industrial chain with the baling Petrochemical Industries Co. Hunan green chemical industry park, baling Petrochemical Industries Co and Sinopec Chemical sales company signed contracts with four enterprises and industry associations to be in Hunan green chemical industry park. Investment 50 Billion new annual output of 45 Million tons of polyamide chips, 30 000 ton nylon spinning project; invest 30 Billion new 45 Million tons of polyamide chips, 10 Ten thousand tons of engineering plastics project To extend the downstream industry chain of caprolactam, Yueyang's Green Chemical Industrial Park will be formed through the development of downstream spinning and engineering plastics industry. Refinery - benzene - caprolactam - polyamide chip - spinning / engineering plastics The production base has formed a synergistic development of nylon industry in Yueyang.

2010 domestic caprolactam capacity and output have been growing steadily since 2017. Since the beginning of 2017, domestic caprolactam enterprises have greatly improved their profitability, and the domestic new and expanded caprolactam projects have gradually increased, and the capacity has expanded significantly. At the end of 2018, the total capacity reached 3 million 690 thousand tons, and the caprolactam self sufficiency rate increased from about 35.6% in 2009 to 94.6%. According to statistics, the new capacity will be increased by 1 million 230 thousand tons in 2019. The caprolactam production capacity will reach 4 million 770 thousand tons by the end of the year, and the capacity will be faced with an excess crisis.

Intensification of integration

At present, the new production of caprolactam has basically achieved the matching of cyclohexanone, raw material self-sufficiency, and the corresponding cost has also been greatly reduced, forming the integrated production of cyclohexanone caprolactam. Caprolactam is basically used for the production of nylon 6 (PA6). The slicing and production of polycaprolactam downstream from Heng Shen, Jinjiang, Haiyang and other caprolactam production enterprises are actively expanding to the upper reaches, accelerating the integration process of the upstream and downstream, forming the integration of cyclohexanone caprolactam polymerization and spinning. The Heng Shen group has pioneered the completion of the complete industrial chain of cyclohexanone caprolactam polymerization - spinning - warping - warping - weaving and dyeing and finishing. The rapid expansion of giant enterprises will be rebuilt upstream, caprolactam industry will face Structural overcapacity And competition intensified.

Price concussion goes down

In terms of market, the overall operation of caprolactam in recent two years has seen a downward trend. See Table 1. As shown in Table 1, the price of caprolactam dropped to a low level in November 2019.

Tab 12017-2019 comparison of caprolactam price difference

The reason for analysis is that the operating profit of all links in caprolactam industrial chain has declined over the past year. In the past year, caprolactam and civilian spinning, the economic prosperity of the industrial cord fabric has decreased, but the profit of the nylon chip market has deteriorated and there has been a lot of losses.

In addition, the Sino US trade war "constantly overweight" has brought a lot of influence to the industry. Song Manjun, deputy general manager of Fujian Shen Yuan new material Co., Ltd., said that the Sino US trade war and the transfer of textile production capacity and the decline in vehicle production led to a reduction in terminal consumption and a decrease in operating rate. Some experts said: the Sino US trade war's long term and global economic recession may continue for a long time. In the first quarter of 2020, there is still a downward trend in the prices of related products.

Some analysts pointed out that the production capacity of caprolactam chain in 2020 will continue to grow, and the upstream and downstream will continue to show an olive type, and the growth of terminal capacity will be slower. Due to the influence of the international market and industrial transformation, the demand for terminal is expected to increase only slightly. It can digest upstream productivity increments. Estimate Two thousand and twenty Caprolactam product chain operating rate is still decreasing. 。

How can enterprises break through?

The technological progress of caprolactam supports the development of the whole industry chain. At the same time, the problems of caprolactam industry are still outstanding. The shortage of resources, the urgent need to enhance product research and development, and the aggravation of market competition are the main factors restricting the development of industry.

How can the caprolactam enterprises break through under the background of changing economic environment and increasing industrial competition?

From the links of the industrial chain, the technical innovation of caprolactam, the upgrading of nylon polymerization technology and the improvement of nylon spinning technology are important means for the industrial chain to achieve sustainable development. In the future, the progress of energy saving and emission reduction cleaner production technology and the application of intelligent manufacturing technology will promote the development and growth of the industry.

Suggestions for future development

Market opportunities always go with challenges. In the future, only with the application of cutting-edge technology, insight into market trends and practice of sustainable development can we fly farther on the industrial outlet.