From the overall situation of propylene oxide in chemical raw materials, Asia can be said to be the main production and sales area. In Asia, China is the largest production and sales base in Asia. The production plant of propylene oxide in China is mainly concentrated in Shandong. In recent years, the newly added capacity in East China has also been continuously improved. The East China region has also increased its market control rights and voice rights.
The global production capacity of propylene oxide is increasing year by year. The average annual growth rate of global PO production capacity in 2012-2017 is 4.27%. With the continuous rise of new technology, the global production capacity of propylene oxide in 2017 is nearly 11 million tons. It is a device of Saudi Arabia's 390,000 tons HPPO process. Most of the foreign devices are dominated by the co-oxidation process, accounting for 43% of the global production capacity. However, with the increasing awareness of environmental protection, the industrialization of the new process HPPO is accelerated. The compound growth rate in the next four years is as high as 23%.
Domestic propylene oxide will increase its production capacity by nearly 3 million tons in the next three years, far exceeding the growth rate of foreign countries. The downstream polyether industry in China is also the main consumer army. In the future, China's polyether polyols will increase capacity by more than 2 million tons. Under the pressure of overcapacity, the overall growth rate slowed down compared with PO, but the overall production capacity still showed a slow growth trend. With the continuous release of domestic propylene oxide new capacity, the energy gap between PO and polyether production will gradually shrink, and the supply and demand of industrial chain will be reduced. The pattern is expected to change, the upstream and downstream factors are deepening, and the market price fluctuations are intertwined. In the future, the propylene oxide industry still faces major challenges and opportunities.