Polyketone (POK) market demand is growing and the industry has development potential

Polyketone (POK) is a polymer material synthesized from carbon monoxide and olefins as raw materials. It is a crystalline engineering plastic. Compared with traditional engineering plastics, polyketones have the advantages of good tensile strength, good chemical corrosion resistance, good wear resistance, and green environmental protection. They are widely used in coatings, automobile manufacturing, adhesives, inks, agriculture, packaging and other fields. According to the number of C atoms in the side chain substituted alkyl group, polyketones can be divided into dodecone, nonaketone, octaketone, heptaketone, pentaketone and tetraketone.

As a new green polymer material, polyketone is obtained by the copolymerization of ethylene, propylene and carbon monoxide (CO). Ethylene, propylene and carbon monoxide are important organic chemical raw materials, and my country has sufficient production. Taking ethylene as an example, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, my country’s ethylene production reached 28.257 million tons in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 18.3%, setting a record high. The sufficient supply of raw materials lays the foundation for the development of my country’s polyketone industry. However, due to technical barriers, my country’s polyketone imports are highly dependent on imports.

my country is a major producer of coatings and inks, and the rapid development of downstream industries has driven the growing demand for polyketones in the market. According to the “2022-2027 China Polyketone (POK) Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report released by the Industrial Research Center It shows that my country’s polyketone demand will reach 45,000 tons in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 11.2%. However, compared with other engineering plastics, my country’s polyketone industry started late, with low market penetration and a small number of production companies. This is the main challenge facing the development of the industry.

The world’s major polyketone manufacturers include South Korea’s Hyosung Group HYOSUNG, Germany’s BASF AG, Belgium’s Solvay Group, etc. South Korea’s Hyosung Group is the world’s largest polyketone manufacturer and occupies a dominant position in my country’s market. Currently, Chinese companies do not have the capacity to produce polyketones on a large scale.

Industry analysts said that polyketones are widely used in coatings, inks, automobile manufacturing and other fields. In recent years, with the rapid development of downstream industries, With the development, the market demand for polyketones is becoming increasingly strong. However, currently, due to factors such as high technical barriers and low market penetration, the number of polyketone manufacturers in my country is small, and demand is highly dependent on imports. It is expected that in the future, as technology maturity continues to improve, my country’s polyketone market space will further expand.