Domestic automobile lightweighting drives demand for EPDM rubber
EPDM rubber is a copolymer of ethylene, propylene and a small amount of the third monomer non-conjugated diene. It has a wide range of uses and is mainly used in housing construction, wires and cables, automobile industry and other fields. Among them, the automotive industry is the main application field of EPDM rubber. The application scope includes automobile water tanks and heating hoses, sealing strips, rubber belts, body and chassis components, weather strips and other non-tire structural parts.
EPDM rubber has excellent weather resistance, heat aging resistance, low temperature resistance, ozone resistance, chemical resistance, water resistance, good electrical insulation and elasticity, and other physical and mechanical properties. my country’s EPDM rubber industry started late. For a long time, production capacity could not meet market demand, and a large number of products needed to be imported from the United States, Japan, the Netherlands and other countries. With the independent process production line of Jilin Petrochemical and the commissioning of Sinopec Mitsui, Arlanxeo (Changzhou) and other equipment, domestic EPDM rubber production capacity has increased rapidly. China has become an important producer of EPDM rubber in the world, and its import dependence has decreased year by year. .
According to 《2022-2027China’s EPDM Rubber Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report shows that in 2021 In 2019, the domestic EPDM rubber market size was approximately 8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.5%. At present, the domestic EPDM rubber industry is still in the growth stage. On the one hand, the domestic EPDM rubber production capacity is still difficult to meet the demand of the downstream market, resulting in the downstream industry still relying heavily on imported products; on the other hand, the domestic The production process of EPDM rubber is relatively backward, and most large-scale production companies generally adopt foreign advanced technologies and equipment. The independent innovation capabilities of the domestic EPDM rubber industry need to be improved urgently.
Global EPDM rubber production capacity continues to expand. Production capacity is mainly in North America, Western Europe and Asia. The main production companies include Lanxess, ExxonMobil, Dow, Mitsui, etc. These companies started development earlier and have larger production capacity. The product brands are rich and have strong competitiveness in the global market. The only domestic EPDM rubber manufacturers are China National Petroleum Corporation Jilin Branch and Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yan’an Energy Chemical Company. Compared with leading foreign companies, their production capacity is smaller and their product brands are mainly mid- to low-end. , and the ability of independent innovation is weak, mainly through the introduction of foreign advanced technology.
Industrial researchers believe that with the development of lightweight vehicles, the application of EPDM rubber in the automotive field is expected to continue to increase. And with the advancement of technology, the performance and quality of EPDM rubber have been improved, its products will be recognized by more users, and the scope of application will be further expanded. In terms of policies, the state strongly supports the development of recycled rubber industries such as EPDM rubber, and has given certain preferences in taxation and other aspects, which is conducive to promoting the development of the EPDM rubber industry. In addition, due to technical limitations, my country’s EPDM rubber products are mainly mid- to low-end brands, with weak market competitiveness and high dependence on imports. Therefore, there is still a large space for localization in my country’s EPDM rubber industry. .