Supply cannot be alleviated in the short term, and the dimethylformamide (DMF) industry will be booming in 2021

Dimethylformamide (DMF) is a product of relatively high economic value in the modern coal chemical industry chain. It is mainly used as an excellent solvent and an important chemical raw material. It is used in PU slurry (polyurethane), food additives, medicine, In many fields such as man-made fibers and electronics, the application demand in the field of PU slurry is relatively high, accounting for 62%. DMF terminals are used in industries such as luggage, clothing, shoes and hats. As the terminal industry is relatively mature, the current demand for DMF is relatively stable.

In the first half of 2021, as the prices of various chemical products increased, DMF prices also reached a record high. However, the downstream industry as a whole was relatively sluggish and was unable to support industry development. However, in the second half of 2021, as the price of PU slurry rises, the DMF market demand continues to rise, and the industry is expected to maintain an upward trend in the short term.

In recent years, the increase in market demand for DMF has mainly come from synthetic leather PU. In the past five years, the output of plastic artificial leather and synthetic leather in my country has shown a fluctuating downward trend. In 2020, the output was approximately 2.24 million tons, and in the first half of 2021, the output was approximately 1.32 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 9%. In 2021, with the recovery of the synthetic leather PU industry, DMF market demand continues to rise and prices rise. However, in terms of downstream supply, affected by factors such as tight coal supply and power rationing, most companies’ DMF production lines are in the shutdown stage, so the DMF industry is in a state of high prosperity in the short term.

According to the “China Dimethylformamide DMF Industry Market Demand and Investment Planning Analysis Report 2021-2025” released by the Industrial Research Center It shows that in terms of production, the current domestic DMF industry has entered a mature stage. In 2010, the domestic DMF industry was in a period of rapid development, and production capacity continued to expand, reaching 1.1 million tons in 2014, reaching the highest production capacity value. Production capacity was already in a state of severe excess, and the operating rate was approximately 64%. After 2014, in the context of fierce market competition and stricter environmental protection supervision, some production capacity was eliminated, and domestic DMF production capacity continued to decrease. After the 180,000 tons/year device of Zhejiang Jiangshan Chemical was suspended in 2020, the domestic DMF production capacity was approximately 760,000 tons.

In terms of market competition, the global DMF manufacturing companies mainly include Samsung, BASF, DuPont, etc., and the global TOP5 companies account for approximately 24% of the market. Currently, China is the largest DMF market, with a market share of 56%, followed by Europe and South Korea. There are less than 10 domestic DMF manufacturers. The main manufacturers include Hualu Hengsheng, Luxi Chemical Industry, Xinghua Co., Ltd., etc. Among them, Hualu Hengsheng is the largest DMF manufacturer in China and the world, with a production capacity of more than 200,000 tons.

Industry analysts said that in the world, the DMF market demand is relatively stable, driven by downstream PU slurry, the market size shows a small increase Growth, the global DMF market size will be approximately 800 million yuan in 2020, and is expected to reach 1.2 billion yuan by 2025. It can be seen from this that the DMF market size is small, the current market concentration is high, and the market competition pattern is relatively obvious. Although the industry shows an upward trend in the short term, there are few development opportunities in the market in the long term.