Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) is widely used and my country’s high-end supply capacity needs to be improved

Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), also known as organic glass and acrylic, is a highly transparent amorphous polymer. PMMA has the characteristics of light weight, high transparency, and easy molding. It can produce molding compounds, extruded plates, cast plates and other products. It is widely used in instrumentation, automotive lights, consumer electronics, advertising, home appliances, construction and building materials and other fields.

PMMA molding methods include casting, injection molding, extrusion molding, thermoforming and other processes, among which extrusion molding is the main molding method of PMMA. PMMA production technology includes three processes: suspension polymerization, solution polymerization, and bulk polymerization. Among them, bulk polymerization can be used to produce high-end PMMA products. With the upgrade of market demand, the bulk polymerization method has broad space to release production capacity.

According to the “2022-2026 China PMMA (Polymethyl Methacrylate) Industry Market Monitoring and Future Development Prospects Research Report released by the Industrial Research Center ” shows that in 2021, the global PMMA industry production capacity will be approximately 3 million tons, with production capacity mainly distributed in Asia-Pacific, North America, Western Europe, and Northeast Asia. The PMMA market is highly concentrated. In the international market, the main suppliers of PMMA include Germany’s Evonik, Chi Mei Chemical, Mitsubishi Rayon, Arkema, Sumitomo Chemical, etc.

my country’s PMMA industry started late, but is developing rapidly. In 2021, my country’s PMMA production capacity will be about 530,000 tons/year. The production capacity is mainly distributed in East China, South China, North China and other regions. Local production companies include Wanhua Chemical and Shanghai Jingqi , Shuangxiang Co., Ltd., Zhongmeng Longxin, etc. With the release of relevant production capacity under construction and planned, my country’s PMMA production capacity will be further improved. It is expected that PMMA production capacity will reach 1.1 million tons/year in 2026. At present, my country’s PMMA production is still dominated by the solution polymerization method, but thanks to the improvement of domestic enterprises’ R&D capabilities, the new PMMA production capacity in the future will be mainly based on the bulk polymerization process.

Methyl methacrylate (MMA) is the main market raw material for PMMA. There are few companies with MMA supply capabilities in the world, including Mitsubishi Rayon, Sumitomo Chemical and Chimei Chemical. my country’s MMA supply capacity is insufficient and market demand relies on imports. This must be To a certain extent, it has affected the development of PMMA industry in my country.

my country’s PMMA production capacity utilization rate is low, around 55%, and due to process technology limitations, the PMMA industry is in a structural surplus situation. The production capacity of low-end products is concentrated and surplus. High-end products such as optical grade PMMA and impact-resistant PMMA rely on imports, and demand Mainly from Japan, South Korea, Singapore and other regions, my country’s PMMA industry structure needs to be optimized in the future.

Industry analysts said that PMMA has a wide range of downstream applications, among which the automotive field is the main demand area for PMMA. In recent years, my country’s PMMA production capacity has continued to grow, but the PMMA industry structure is unbalanced. The demand for high-end products such as optical grade PMMA and impact-resistant PMMA relies on imports. Under the trend of consumption upgrading, my country’s PMMA industry is in urgent need of high-end development.