Current situation and development prospect of carbon fiber industry in China

In 2020, the import volume of carbon fiber and products will be 30,351.6 tons, with processing trade and general trade accounting for 58.9% and 39.3%, respectively, and material processing in processing trade accounting for 99.8%. Japan was the largest source of imports with 7,531.6 tons, down 2.1 percent year-on-year, accounting for 24.8 percent of total imports. Imports from Taiwan were 7,299.0 tons, an increase of 28.8%, accounting for 24.1% of the total imports, and domestic carbon fiber has gradually been widely recognized in the domestic market. From the data in Table 2, from 2009 to 2019, the total application of carbon fiber (including products) in China increased from 7 888.5 tons to 37 840.6 tons, of which the proportion of domestic carbon fiber consumption increased from 12.7% in 2009 to 31.7%. The proportion of imports of Japan, the United States and other countries with the highest level of carbon fiber technology has declined year by year, indicating that domestic carbon fiber has become an inevitable trend to replace imports.

The economic benefit is remarkable and the market demand is obvious

The product performance of carbon fiber and its products in China basically meets the needs of high-end applications. The industrial development of domestic carbon fiber has broken the long-term technological blockade and market monopoly of Japan and the United States in China, and injected new impetus into the core competitiveness of China's manufacturing industry. The rapid growth of the domestic market demand for carbon fiber, market recognition is also continuing to improve, promote the annual production of domestic carbon fiber more than 10,000 tons, breaking the has been "capacity without production" passive situation.

Zhongfu Shenying, Weihai Development, Jiangsu Hengshen, Zhejiang Jinggong and other private enterprises with flexible system and mechanism, rich market competition experience, deep technical strength, took the lead in realizing the industrialization and stable production and large-scale application of thousand-ton carbon fiber, breaking the foreign technology blockade monopoly. Wind power blades have become the main driving force for domestic carbon fiber applications, and the amount of aerospace, pressure vessels, new energy and other fields has also increased to a certain extent. With the continuous expansion of downstream applications, high-quality carbon fiber has been in short supply.

Shanghai Petrochemical has started a new carbon fiber project in Shanghai, with a total investment of 3.5 billion yuan. The construction content includes 24,000 tons/year of raw silk and 12,000 tons/year of 48K large tow carbon fiber, which is planned to be completed by 2024. Jilin Carbon Valley started the second phase of the annual output of 50,000 tons of carbon fiber prefilament project, with a total investment of 1 billion yuan, to build five large tow carbon fiber prefilament production lines, which are expected to be fully put into operation by the end of 2021. Jilin Chemical Fiber launched an annual output of 15,000 tons of carbon fiber project, with a planned total investment of 2.44 billion yuan. Lanzhou Blue Star, Jiangsu Hengshen and other key enterprises also plan to build new carbon fiber projects.

In view of the obvious results of domestic epidemic prevention and control, the rapid recovery of economic vitality, the domestic demand for high-performance fibers will gradually increase, production will continue to improve, China's carbon fiber industry bucking the trend, production and sales are booming, and performance continues to grow. It is expected that by 2025, the domestic demand for carbon fiber will reach about 110,000 tons.

Multi-party help to achieve the development of carbon fiber industry

Since 2005, China's carbon fiber industry has gone through several stages of small tonnage test line, 100 tons pilot test line and 1,000 tons industrialization line, and is entering a new stage of large-scale production and application, and has made remarkable achievements.

On the one hand, the national special funds to support the industrial production and application of carbon fiber and composite materials, has supported more than 100 carbon fiber and composite materials industrialization projects, the scope of support covers the entire industrial chain of carbon fiber, carbon fiber composite materials and products. This has laid the foundation for the development of China's carbon fiber industry from scratch, from weak to industrial growth, ensured the independent supply of domestic carbon fiber in the national defense military and civilian fields, and provided important support for the development and growth of China's carbon fiber industry and improved the independent support capability of key materials.

In addition, industry organizations build service platforms by holding professional activities. As a bridge connecting the government and enterprises, the first is to assist in providing information, industry associations based on their understanding of the latest status quo of industry development, short board areas, key enterprises and development trends and other professional information, for government departments to determine the direction of policy support, special support areas to provide support; The second is to set up a special carbon fiber industry branch, strengthen the interpretation of industrial policies and special implementation, regularly hold professional forums, build a platform for the exchange and cooperation of China's carbon fiber industry, study, research and use, further gather industry development consensus, promote domestic carbon fiber key technology breakthroughs, upstream and downstream cooperation, application field expansion, and promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. Enhance the core competitiveness of China's carbon fiber industry.