Global Ethylene Glycol Market Status and Development Prospect Analysis
In recent years, with the rapid growth of the global polyester product market consumption, the production of ethylene glycol has developed rapidly. In 2003, the total global production capacity of ethylene glycol was only 15.862 million tons, in 2006 it reached 18.7973 million tons, and in 2009 it further increased to 22.151 million tons. In 2010, with the commissioning of several new or expanded ethylene glycol production plants in China and the Middle East, the production capacity has been greatly improved, and the global production capacity has been expanded to 24.67 million tons. By the end of 2015, the global ethylene glycol production capacity reached 29.51 million tons, the output was 24.95 million tons, the capacity utilization rate was 84.5%, the total consumption was 25.61 million tons, and the supply and demand were basically balanced.
However, comparing the distribution of global supply and demand, it can be found that there is a significant imbalance in the distribution of supply and demand in Asia and the Middle East. The total production capacity of ethylene glycol in Asia accounts for about 50% of the global total, and the demand accounts for more than 80%; the total production capacity in the Middle East accounts for about 29% of the global total, and the demand accounts for only 4%. Therefore, Asia is currently the region with the largest demand for ethylene glycol imports in the world, and the Middle East is the largest export region.
The last round of centralized production of ethylene glycol production units was from 2009 to 2010. In recent years, the speed of production has slowed down significantly. From 2011 to 2014, the number of global ethylene glycol production units put into operation was small. In 2010, the global growth rate of ethylene glycol reached 11%, and then the growth rate from 2011 to 2014 was less than 5%. In 2015, the speed of new production capacity was accelerated. From 2015 to 2017, the cumulative production capacity of ethylene glycol in the global market reached 5%. 6.91 million tons, of which coal-to-ethylene glycol is 2.94 million tons. In recent years, the investment in ethylene glycol production capacity of traditional petrochemical lines in the international market has slowed down significantly, and it is expected that a relatively concentrated investment cycle will appear after 2018.
From the perspective of regional distribution of ethylene glycol, 78% of the global production capacity is mainly concentrated in Asia and the Middle East. In 2016, the production capacity in Asia and the Middle East was 18.557 million tons and 10.861 million tons respectively; followed by North America, with a production capacity of 4.98 million tons , accounting for 13.3% of the total global production capacity; followed by Europe, with a production capacity of 2.246 million tons, accounting for about 6% of the global total; South America, with a production capacity of 826,000 tons, accounting for 2.2% of the global total.
From the perspective of the distribution of global ethylene glycol production capacity enterprises, due to the limitations of production technology and raw materials, the industry concentration is relatively high. Data shows that as of 2016, the world's largest ethylene glycol producer, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), has a production capacity of 6.64 million tons, accounting for about 17.7% of the world's total production capacity. The devices are mainly concentrated in Saudi Arabia; followed by Dow Chemical, It ranks second in the world with an annual production capacity of 3.595 million tons, and its installations are mainly located in Canada, the United States, and Kuwait. Sinopec ranks third, with a production capacity of 3.244 million tons in 2016, mainly in China.
From the perspective of global demand, ethylene glycol has a wide range of downstream applications and can be used in many fields such as polyester fibers, antifreeze, adhesives, unsaturated resins, polyurethane, and glyoxal. From the perspective of global applications, ethylene glycol used in the polyester field accounts for 65% of the global total, and packaging resin consumption accounts for 29%; from the perspective of demand distribution, more than 80% of the global demand is concentrated in Asia, of which China Regions accounted for 57%.












