company news about What are the Global Firsts in the Chemical Industry in China, the US, Germany, Japan and Korea?

What are the Global Firsts in the Chemical Industry

in China, the US, Germany, Japan and Korea?

1. China ranks first in the world in several chemical industries

  China's chemical industry has developed for decades, although not as good as the century-old foundation of Europe and the United States, but under the technology and era, it has realized the curved road to overtake in many segments. According to Pingtou's statistics, by the end of 2022, China's oil refining capacity had exceeded 920 million tons, reaching the first in the world. In addition, ethylene production capacity surpassed the U.S. in 2023, reaching the world's first, and the scale of basic chemicals, such as propylene and butadiene, became the world's first in 2024.

  In addition, MDI, adipic acid, high-temperature-resistant nylon, and electronic chemicals are now the world's first. Wanhua Chemical's MDI production capacity is the world's first, accounting for more than 30% of the global share, and it is a global leader in process technology and cost control. Chongqing Huafeng Chemical has the world's largest single set of 500,000 tons/year adipic acid plant, with a total capacity of 1.5 million tons/year, and is the global leader. Shandong Sanli Benno built the world's largest single set of production capacity of PA6T 10,000-ton production line, promoting the localization of special nylon. China's OLED display shipments accounted for 50.7% of the world in the first half of 2024, surpassing South Korea for the first time, and BOE, Visuno and other enterprises are rising rapidly.

  ChemChina has built more than 70,000 chemical plants in more than 80 countries around the world, and its operating income ranks first in the global oil and gas service sector. For example, the 600,000 tons/year formaldehyde plant of the ferromolybdenum method in Inner Mongolia Dongjing Bio (the largest single set in the world), the syngas-to-ethanol project of Huaibei Mining (the largest single set in the world), and so on. China's anode materials (such as lithium iron phosphate) accounted for more than 50% of the global share, anode materials, diaphragm materials, and rapid expansion of production capacity. The output of silicon material, silicon wafers, battery wafers and modules ranked first in the world, and key raw materials such as EVA particles and trichlorohydrosilicon realized technological breakthroughs. Black Cat's carbon black production capacity is the second largest in the world and the first in China. Dongyue shares, Juhua shares the fluorine chemical industry in the world first.

  Overall, China has experienced the development of recent years, has achieved a number of chemical industry segments of the world's first, and the future it will be further extended to new energy, semiconductor materials, and other strategic emerging areas, to become a global chemical power.

2. The United States has advantages in high-end materials, specialty chemicals, green and sustainable technologies, etc.

  The U.S. chemical industry still occupies a leading technological position globally, especially in the fields of high-end materials, specialty chemicals and electronic materials, with significant advantages. However, with the rapid development of the global industry, the U.S. advantageous position is gradually weakening.

  According to Pingtou's survey, the U.S. in the field of high-performance engineering plastics (e.g., PA66, PBT), special rubber (styrene-butadiene rubber), carbon fibers and other areas, U.S. companies occupy a dominant position in the world. Bio-based materials, hydrogen energy technology and other areas of U.S. companies' layout earlier, mature technology, has a greater influence in the world.

  U.S. chemical companies in the world's top 50 to occupy 10 seats, including Dow, ExxonMobil, and LyondellBasell, divided into the third, fourth and fifth place. Dow Chemical's ethylene, polystyrene, vinyl acetate, vinyl dichloride, ethylene oxide, and ethylene glycol producers, the world's third largest comprehensive scale. Dow Chemical has a global market share of about 80% in photoresists, dominating the semiconductor materials market. In addition, Dow Chemical is also in the field of polyurethane, polypropylene, styrene-butadiene rubber, reverse osmosis membranes, etc., which has a certain influence in the global market.

  LyondellBasell is the world's largest producer of polypropylene, with polypropylene annual production capacity of more than 6.5 million tons, is also the world's largest producer of styrene, MTBE, polyethylene production capacity of the world's third, leading the supply of medical plastics. Eastman Chemical is the world's largest supplier of window film and a leader in polyester molecular recycling technology.

  Overall, the U.S. chemical industry is centered on technology-intensive and high-value-added products, and is among the world's leading manufacturers of high-specialty chemicals and electronic materials, especially in strategic emerging fields such as semiconductors and new energy.

3. Germany has the world's largest chemical industry, leading the world in specialty chemicals and polymers

  With technological innovation, high value-added products and industry chain integrity, the German chemical industry occupies an important position in the world. However, with the high cost of energy in Europe, the high cost of chemical production and other factors, gradually unable to compete with the global market, the German chemical industry is currently facing the trend of industrial transfer, many leading companies choose to build factories in other regions, the advantages of the German chemical industry in the gradual decrease.

  In 2023, Germany's chemical sales of about 186 billion euros, accounting for 28% of the EU's total chemical sales, second only to China, the United States and Japan. About 63% of these products are exported globally, with the EU as the largest market, accounting for 60% of exports. Germany's specialty chemicals sales accounted for 12% of the global share, covering pharmaceutical intermediates, electronic chemicals, environmental materials and other high-value-added products, of which Germany is Europe's largest pharmaceutical industry countries, ranked fourth in the world, sales of more than 41 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, an annual growth rate of 6%.

  Germany's polyurethane, PVC production capacity of the world's top three, leading the R&D of biodegradable plastics. 2023 Germany's chemical R&D investment of more than 5 billion euros, accounting for 19% of the total R&D expenditure in the manufacturing industry, the number of patents in the world.

  From the corporate latitude, BASF is the world's largest chemical company; chemical sales in 2023 amounted to 76.061 billion U.S. dollars, for many consecutive years in the ICIS global chemical top 100 list. BASF occupies a dominant position in the fields of polyurethane, polyamide, engineering plastics, specialty chemicals, etc., and is the world's No. 1 in market share in the field of agricultural sciences, such as herbicides and insecticides.

  Bayer is the world's largest pharmaceutical and agricultural science giant, with leading market shares in prescription drugs (e.g., anti-cancer drugs, cardiovascular drugs) and consumer health products (e.g., aspirin), and the world's No. 1 in seed technology, genetically modified crops and pesticide products. Germany's Bayer has more than 25,000 patents, and continues to make breakthroughs in the fields of gene editing and biopharmaceuticals. 

   Pingtou believes that the German chemical industry is technology-intensive and sustainable as the core, dominating the field of specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, high-performance materials, especially in high-end manufacturing and green technology still has significant advantages.

4. South Korea's chemical industry is at the forefront of scale and has advantages in the fields of semiconductors and battery materials

  Korea's chemical industry has occupied an important position in the global high-end materials and semiconductor fields by virtue of technological innovation and industrial synergy. But because of the rapid increase in competitiveness of other countries (such as China), South Korea's chemical industry shows a trend of slowing growth.

  According to Pingtou's statistic, Korea is the fourth largest country in the chemical industry, after the U.S., China and Japan. In 2023, Korea's chemical sales reached $110 billion, with a global market share of 4.5%. South Korea's chemical industry is an export-led industry, chemical exports accounted for 5.2% of the world, semiconductor materials, battery materials, and specialty chemicals as the core export categories.

  South Korea has certain advantages in the field of photoresist, silicon wafers, battery materials, POE elastomers, carbon fiber, and SK Siltron silicon wafers global market share of about 15%, and 12-inch wafer production capacity of the world's third. Key materials such as cathode materials, electrolyte, diaphragm and other key materials have a global market share of more than 25%, South Korea's battery industry is in the top three position globally, and South Korea's Xiaoxing's carbon fiber production capacity is the fourth in the world. SK Hynix is the world's second-largest DRAM maker, with a market share of about 29%, and LG Chem is the world's largest supplier of battery materials for electric vehicles, with a market share of more than 30% for cathode materials (NCM), and a global production capacity of PVC. PVC production capacity of the world's top five, ABS resin technology global leader, and PLA production capacity of Asia's first.

  Pingtou believes that South Korea's chemical industry to semiconductor materials, power batteries, environmental protection and energy as the core, in the field of high value-added materials occupy an important position, especially in the semiconductor and new energy supply chain is indispensable.

5. The Japanese chemical industry is in the fields of semiconductors, new energy materials and specialty chemicals

  With years of technology accumulation and innovation, the Japanese chemical industry occupies a global leadership position in a number of high-end segments. Japanese chemical industry has certain advantages in the field of semiconductor, new energy materials, specialty chemicals. With China's rapid rise in the field of high-end chemicals, in some areas gradually realize the localization of substitution, to the Japanese chemical industry to bring greater pressure.

  Japan is the world's fourth largest chemical producer, the chemical output value in 2023 exceeded 50 trillion yen, accounting for more than 4% of the global share. Japan in the semiconductor materials, specialty chemicals, carbon fibers and other segments of the global market share, especially in the semiconductor materials supply chain occupies a key position. Solid-state battery materials (Asahi Kasei, Toyota), hydrogen storage tank carbon fiber (Toray) technology global leader, COC/COP (Asahi Kasei), PVA film (Mitsubishi Chemical), high-end engineering plastics (Poly), such as the monopoly of technology.

  Japan's chemical industry attaches importance to technological investment, R & D expenditure in 2023 accounted for 6% of sales, focusing on investment in semiconductors, hydrogen energy, biobased materials, relying on the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University and other colleges and universities, quantum computing materials, nanotechnology and other cutting-edge areas to maintain the advantage.

  Japan's Shin-Etsu Chemical is the world's largest semiconductor wafer producer, with a market share of 12-inch wafers exceeding 50%, dominating the global supply of high-end chip manufacturing materials. Japan's JSR and Tokyo Chemical Industry is the world's photoresist double giant, JSR in the ArF immersion photoresist market share of more than 60%, dominated the EUV photoresist research and development. Tokyo Chemical's g/i-line photoresist global market share of about 40%, supporting mature process chip production.

  Japan's Polyplastics POM production capacity of the world's first, alongside the United States Celanese, annual production capacity of 250,000 tons, accounting for 13.8% of the world, widely used in automotive and electronic precision parts. Toray is the global carbon fiber leader, T1100G ultra-high-strength carbon fiber market share of more than 40%, a monopoly of Boeing, Airbus and other aerospace markets. Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical is the world's largest producer of PVA film, water treatment, lithium-ion battery PVA film market share of more than 60%, and high technical barriers.

  Pingtou believes that the Japanese chemical industry to semiconductor materials, high-end carbon fibers, specialty chemicals as the core, in the high value-added segments to occupy a dominant position globally, especially in the semiconductor and new energy materials supply chain is irreplaceable.

From WeChat Account "Chemical Pingtou". 

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