Blogs
June 28, 2023Global Market Snapshot: Polycarbonate
Polycarbonate is an engineering thermoplastic used in a range of relatively high, value-added polymer applications, such as automotive parts, appliance housings, electronics, household goods, and construction. Polycarbonate is impact resistant, thermally stable, optically very clear, dimensionally stable, and has good electrical insulating properties.
Similar to other polymers, polycarbonate faces competition from other products. Competing materials include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polysulfones, and polystyrene. ABS is a lower-priced material with outstanding aesthetic qualities, though lacks the superior impact performance of polycarbonate. Polysulfones are clear, higher performance material but are substantially more expensive than polycarbonate. Polycarbonate mainly competes with less expensive polymers such as ABS and polystyrene in appliances manufacturing. The polycarbonate customer base is highly concentrated in the automotive, sheets, electrical/electronics, and construction industries.
The electrical/electronics market is the largest global polycarbonate end-use, accounting for just over 30 percent of total demand. Demand in the electrical/electronics market is driven by replacement of metals in electronic equipment (including enclosures, computer covers and casings, telephones, televisions, switchboxes, switchboards and other electrical systems), glass replacement in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and manufacture of the diffusion panel in large liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors and televisions. The growth in this segment is not expected to be as high as historical rates due to a slowdown in the rate of substitution. Several major parts (metal) have been replaced with polycarbonate or other engineering plastics, leaving only limited areas for polycarbonate to penetrate. Miniaturisation of electronic products has also affected growth. The expansion of the flat-screen TV/monitor market, the trend towards slim and light weight laptop, and increased volumes of mobile electronic devices has provided growth for polycarbonate resins, which are used in housings, frequently alloyed with other polymers such as ABS.
Polycarbonate Demand by End-Use
In the construction industry, polycarbonate is used mainly for building materials such as roofs, glazing and profiles, signs, noise protective boards and glass lamination. High demand growth rates for polycarbonate are in developing regions such as Asia Pacific, Middle East, South America, driven by increasing urbanisation, industrialisation and expanding infrastructure.
Polycarbonate is used in the automotive industry due to its light weight and high transparency. Polycarbonate has penetrated applications such as headlight lenses; displacing glass in selected automotive windows (i.e. small rear side windows). Automotive glazing in windscreens and panoramic roofs is a potentially huge sector for polycarbonate demand, but there are major obstacles to its usage, principally scratching, yellowing, and heat intolerance, and efforts to commercialise it on a wide scale have not so far succeeded. Further developments which have improved durability, UV resistance, scratch resistance and anti-yellowish degradation could increase polycarbonate penetration into these applications. Development of the electric vehicle segment is also supporting growth due to lightweighting.
The global polycarbonate market rebounded in 2021 following the first waves of COVID, with global demand increasing by six percent from 2020. Economic recovery drove demand into key sectors including construction, and automotive industries; with rapid growth continuing in electrical/electronic and medical sectors.
However, demand growth slowed in 2022 with global demand reaching nearly 5 million tons as countries struggled with rising inflation and high interest rates, with many developing economies losing spending power due to soaring energy and food costs. COVID lockdowns and power outages in China restricted derivative growth to very low levels, creating brutally competitive derivative markets as new capacity entered the market.
Polycarbonate production is concentrated in three regions: Asia Pacific, Western Europe and North America. There are limited numbers of participants in the industry, and the top ten producers collectively accounted for more than 75 percent of global capacity in 2022. Capacity development has been concentrated in North-East Asia, particularly China and South Korea in recent years. In China, most newly announced plants were originally not planned for backward integration with BPA, but some of these have since announced BPA integration for feedstock security reasons. Capacity developments in the near term will be concentrated in China.
Find out more….
Market Analytics: Phenol Chain - 2023 report provides analysis and forecasts to 2045 of supply and demand of the global phenol chain, including cumene, phenol, acetone, BPA and polycarbonate market. This analysis identifies the issues shaping the industry as well as provide demand, supply and net trade data for 40 countries.
About Us - NexantECA, the Energy and Chemicals Advisory company is the leading advisor to the energy, refining, and chemical industries. Our clientele ranges from major oil and chemical companies, governments, investors, and financial institutions to regulators, development agencies, and law firms. Using a combination of business and technical expertise, with deep and broad understanding of markets, technologies and economics, NexantECA provides solutions that our clients have relied upon for over 50 years.
