In the wake of capacity expansion and quality improvement, China's PC import volume keeps a downtrend on the whole in 2023 compared with previous years.
Source: OilChem
Firstly, the anti-dumping investigation on imported PC originating in Taiwan influences China's PC imports from Taiwan.
With the largest exporting volume of PC, China is the most important trade partner of Taiwan, and Taiwan also ranked first in China's PC import trade partners four times during the past six years.
The Ministry of Commerce initiated an anti-dumping investigation on imported PC originating in Taiwan. This investigation started on November 30, 2022 should usually be completed before November 29, 2023. As a result, it influences China's PC imports from Taiwan in 2023.
Secondly, the Chinese PC industry has witnessed further enhancement of localization development in recent years, and domestic scale production and integration production exceed those in surrounding countries and regions by far.
Source: OilChem
As of H1 2023, the number of China PC manufacturing enterprises reached 16 and domestic capacities totaled 3.43 million tonnes/year. In addition, there are 6 enterprises with a production capacity of more than 200,000 t/y, accounting for 69.68% in China, and 10 integrated enterprises with feedstock production lines, accounting for 81.05% of the country. Furthermore, the PC capacity utilization rate and output also reached their record highs in recent years.
Thirdly, the high quality and price advantage of domestic PC resources accelerate the product substitution of imported resources.
The product differentiation, product quality and output of domestic PC resources have steadily improved in recent years. Its short distance with domestic consumption market and the favorable RMB pricing also greatly influences China's PC imports.
On the contrary, due to the shrinking supply and high cost, imported PC spot prices stay at highs in China market. Given high cost competition and comprehensive cost performance, more and more downstream users choose domestic PC resources.
Written by Ariel Guo, gq@oilchem.net
Edited by Navy Liu, liuchuanjun@mysteel.com