Domestic turpentine production cannot meet market demand, and imports continue to rise

Turpentine is a co-product produced during the processing of rosin into rosin. Since most of the rosin produced in my country is gum rosin, turpentine is also mostly derived from gum turpentine. Turpentine is a fine chemical product. Its main components are α-pinene and β-pinene, which can produce camphor, borneol and other products.

Turpentine is obtained by processing rosin, which is collected from living pine trees. my country is rich in pine resources and has many types of pine trees. The rosin mainly comes from masson pine, Yunnan pine, Simao pine and slash pine, which are mainly concentrated in Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong and other regions. The supply of raw materials is limited, and my country’s turpentine production capacity is concentrated in Yunnan, Guangxi, Fujian and other regions.

According to different production methods, turpentine can be divided into multiple types, such as gum turpentine, sulfate turpentine, wood turpentine, and retorted turpentine. The first two can be produced on a large scale, while most of the domestically produced turpentine is gum turpentine. Due to the relatively backward domestic production technology, the current output of sulfated turpentine is low and the cost is high, and it is mostly used as fuel oil.

In terms of application, turpentine in my country is mainly used in the fields of synthetic camphor, synthetic spices, terpineol, terpene resin, borneol and other fields. Among them, the application demand in the field of camphor is high, accounting for 43%, followed by the demand for spice synthesis. It is 23% and terpene resin accounts for 17%.

According to the “Turpentine Industry Investment Environment and Investment Prospects Forecast Analysis Report 2022-2026” released by the Industrial Research Center, affected by environmental protection policies Restrictions have affected my country’s turpentine rough processing enterprises. Some enterprises with small production capacity and high pollution have been shut down, and the supply structure has been optimized. As far as turpentine production is concerned, my country’s turpentine production has shown a fluctuating and decreasing trend in the past five years. In 2016, the output was about 280,000 tons, and by 2020 it was reduced to 210,000 tons.

Due to the sluggish development of the rosin industry and the trend of environmental protection, domestic turpentine production capacity has been reduced, causing domestic turpentine imports to continue to rise. In 2016, my country’s turpentine import volume was 1,400 tons, which will increase to 9,700 tons in 2020. my country’s turpentine is mainly imported from Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia, Argentina and other countries.

The turpentine industry has experienced fierce market competition and strengthening environmental protection control. The number of production companies has continued to decrease, and market concentration has increased. In the future, it will tend to compete with leading companies. Tianlong Group is a major manufacturer of rosin and turpentine in China. It has a large scale and relatively strong market influence. In 2020, Tianlong Group’s business revenue of turpentine, rosin and rosin reached 540 million yuan.

Industrial analysts said that turpentine is a co-product of rosin, and the development of the industry is not only affected by market demand but also by the development of the rosin industry. In recent years, due to the sluggishness of the domestic rosin industry and the tightening of domestic environmental protection monitoring, backward production capacity has withdrawn from the market, resulting in production being unable to meet market demand, and turpentine imports have continued to rise. There are still development opportunities in my country’s turpentine market, and large-scale production companies will benefit more in the future.