China’s local AAS resin companies continue to make efforts to catch up with industry leaders

AAS resin, also known as ASA resin, is a graft copolymer composed of acrylonitrile (Acrylonitrile), styrene (Styrene), and acrylate (Acrylate). It is a type of engineering plastics.

​ ​According to different product types and technologies, AAS resin can be divided into injection molding level (ordinary level), extrusion level and enhanced level. Among them, injection-grade AAS resin has the characteristics of heat resistance and high weather resistance, and is widely used in outdoor and fields with high demand for weather resistance; extrusion-grade AAS resin is mainly used to produce extruded sheets and pipe fittings, and is used in building materials, automobiles, Production of motorcycle parts and other products; reinforced AAS resin has the characteristics of UV resistance, high fluidity and high gloss, and is suitable for fields with high requirements on material properties. It is generally used in the production of automobile exterior decoration, consumer electronic parts and other products. , such as rearview mirrors, tailgates, car lampshades, laptop computer casings, etc.

In terms of the global market, with the continuous maturation of AAS resin production technology and the continuous expansion of its application scale in automobiles, building materials, electronics and other fields, the number of global AAS resin companies continues to grow, including Japan’s Dakeneng, the United States’ GE Company, LG Chemical, Taiwan Chimei Industrial and other companies have gradually implemented industrial production. With its good weather resistance, AAS resin has gradually replaced some ABS, PC, and PVC materials. In recent years, with the continuous development of replacing steel with plastic and lightweighting of automobiles, global AAS resin production capacity and output have continued to grow. Industrial Research Center issued the 2023 Global and China AAS “Resin Industry In-depth Research Report” shows that the global AAS resin market will grow from 7.18 billion yuan in 2023 to 8.52 billion yuan in 2026.

From the perspective of global demand region, the demand for AAS resin is mainly concentrated in Asia, North America and Europe. Among them, Asian countries represented by China, South Korea and Japan have developed automobile, building materials, electronic and electrical industries, occupying a high market share in the world, and have the highest proportion of AAS resin demand. With the development and maturity of technology and the continuous transfer of industries, China will gradually become the world’s largest AAS resin producer in the future. At the same time, the economies of Southeast Asia, India and other regions have great development potential and will become important demand areas for global automobiles, building materials, electronics and electrical appliances in the future, and their share in the global AAS resin market will continue to increase.

At this stage, global AAS resin companies can be divided into three major echelons. The first echelon is represented by Ineos Styrolution, South Korea’s LG Chem, Japan’s Dakenon, Saudi Basic Industries, etc. AAS resin has large production scale and strong technical strength. The global market occupies most of the market share; the second echelon is represented by companies such as Xinxiang Chuangmei and Shanghai Kumho Rili. The scale of AAS resin production is at a medium level, and product quality and performance are lower than those of the first echelon; the third echelon is Other small enterprises are smaller in scale, their products are mainly mid- to low-end, and their competitiveness is weak.

In the Chinese market, the domestic research and development of AAS resin was relatively late. In the 1990s, the Department of Polymer Materials of Beijing Institute of Chemical Technology and the Institute of Polymer Research of Zhejiang University conducted exploratory research on AAS resin, but no technological breakthrough was achieved. After 20 to 30 years of development, the technology of the domestic AAS resin industry has continued to advance, and the number of local companies has continued to increase. However, most of them use AAS high rubber powder and SAN resin as the main raw materials and are produced on twin-screw extruders. Local companies are in a following and imitation position in terms of product technology research and development, and there is still a big gap between them and foreign companies in terms of product quality and large-scale production.

Compared with foreign countries, the penetration rate of my country’s AAS resins and blended modified products in the downstream fields is still low, and product application development is also relatively limited. They are only widely used in the fields of automobiles and building materials, and are used in other fields such as electronics, electrical, and photovoltaics. Development needs to be further improved. It is expected that in the future, with the increasing penetration rate of the AAS resin market and the continuous development of new application markets, the market demand for China’s AAS resin products will maintain a growth trend, and the output will continue to increase accordingly. With the expansion of downstream application fields, its The gap between production and demand will continue to expand, and the market potential is huge.