The K resin market is highly concentrated and the global market is dominated by foreign brands.
K resin is styrene-butadiene transparent impact resin. It is a new thermoplastic polymer material synthesized from monomers such as styrene and butadiene using modern “anionic living polymerization” method, using alkyl lithium as initiator. K resin is non-toxic, environmentally friendly, has excellent comprehensive properties, is easy to obtain raw materials, is easy to process, and has a wide range of uses. It combines transparency and impact resistance, and has rheological properties that are different from general resin materials. In addition, K resin is moderately priced, so it is widely used in the manufacture of transparent, hard and flexible products. It is widely used in packaging materials, daily plastic products, medical equipment, electrical appliances, instruments and other fields.
Since K resin was first synthesized in 1965, the market has been monopolized by Phillips Company of the United States. At the end of the 20th century, Phillips Company’s K resin production capacity was close to 200,000 tons. During this period, in line with the needs of application market development, in addition to injection molding grade KR01 and impact grade KR03, Phillips also developed sheet grade KR05, super impact grade KR04 and film grade KR-10, K-Resin The products cover all application fields of thermoplastics and transparent materials.
As other companies’ K-resin products gradually enter the market, Phillips’ monopoly on K-resin has been broken; however, Phillips still occupies a leading position in the world in terms of K-resin output, variety brands, and product applications. my country’s K-resin technology research And product development is later than that of developed countries. The first K resin industrial test device was successfully put into operation in 2002 and produced qualified products. In September 2004, Guangdong Maoming Zhonghe Chemical and Plastics Co., Ltd. built the country’s first 20,000 tons/year industrial production unit. It entered a stable production period in 2005 and expanded its capacity to 40,000 tons/year in 2012. It will gradually Expanding production capacity, the K resin production capacity of Guangdong Maoming Zhonghe Chemical Plastics Co., Ltd. will reach 50,000 tons/year in 2022.
The K resin production process is difficult. According to 《2023-2028 China K resin industry market in-depth research and development prospect forecast report》 It shows that the current global companies that can produce K resin are mainly Phillips Chemical Company of the United States, BASF of Germany, Asahi Kasei of Japan, and Chi Mei of Taiwan. In China, the main companies are Guangdong Maoming Zhonghe Chemical Plastics Co., Ltd., and the market concentration is high. In 2022, global K resin production will be approximately 500,000 tons, and China’s K resin production will be approximately 50,000 tons.
Industrial researchers believe that from the perspective of the industry itself, currently, the number of global K resin industry manufacturers is small, and the production capacity is relatively limited and The industry is highly concentrated, and the global market is dominated by foreign brands such as Phillips. In the future, with the further development of related technologies and the further expansion of the K resin demand market, new changes may occur in the global K resin supply and demand relationship. By then, more companies may enter the K-resin industry, reshaping the competitive landscape of the industry, and driving the enrichment of K-resin products and price reductions, further promoting the popularization and application of K-resin in downstream areas, and promoting the continued development of the industry.