2021 Nitrile Rubber Market Development Report

Nitrile rubber is a synthetic rubber made by copolymerization of butadiene and acrylonitrile. It has excellent oil resistance, high wear resistance, good heat resistance and strong adhesion. Nitrile rubber is widely used in the manufacture of various oil-resistant rubber products, oil-resistant gaskets, gaskets, sleeves, flexible packaging, flexible hoses, printing and dyeing rubber rollers, cable rubber materials, etc. It has become indispensable in industries such as automobiles, aviation, petroleum, and copying. Less elastic material.

Industrial production of nitrile rubber adopts continuous or batch emulsion polymerization process. According to the different polymerization temperature, it is divided into thermal polymerization and cold polymerization. Thermal polymerization usually adopts batch polymerization process, and cold polymerization usually adopts continuous polymerization process. At present, the production process of nitrile rubber in many countries in the world is continuous production by cold emulsion polymerization, and the process is similar to that of styrene-butadiene rubber. It mainly includes raw material preparation, polymerization, monomer recovery, latex storage and blending, latex coagulation, and drying machine briquetting and packaging.

Analysis and Forecast of the Supply and Demand of Nitrile Rubber in the World

The world's nitrile rubber production capacity and output have increased steadily. In 2020, the world's nitrile rubber production capacity increased by 4.4% year-on-year, output increased by 5.5% year-on-year, and the average operating rate of the plant was 84.6%. Northeast Asia is the world's largest nitrile rubber production and consumption area, accounting for 68.2% and 67.5% of the world's nitrile rubber production and consumption respectively, followed by Southeast Asia and Western Europe. Kumho Petrochemical is the world’s largest nitrile rubber production company, with its production capacity accounting for 18.9% of the world’s total production capacity; Synthomer PLC ranked second, accounting for 11.2% of the world’s total production capacity; third is LG Group, accounting for the world’s total production capacity 9.2% of total production capacity.

In 2019, the total international trade of nitrile rubber reached 860 million US dollars, and the total trade volume was 296,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 15.9% and 8.9% respectively. In terms of price, the average export price of nitrile rubber in the world in 2019 was US$2905.8/ton, a year-on-year decrease of 7.7%. China, the United States and India are the world's major importers of nitrile rubber, and their total imports account for about 47.0% of the world's total imports. South Korea, Japan and the Russian Federation are the main exporting countries, and their combined exports account for approximately 69.8% of the world's total exports.

In the next few years, the new capacity of nitrile rubber will be limited. With the development of hose, foaming and sealing industries, the consumption of nitrile rubber in the world will increase steadily. It is estimated that by 2022, the total consumption of nitrile rubber in the world will be 1.72 million tons.

Status Quo and Forecast of China's Nitrile Rubber Supply and Demand

China's nitrile rubber industry has maintained stable development. As of the end of 2020, there are 5 nitrile rubber manufacturers in China, and most of their installations are concentrated in East China. The production capacity of nitrile rubber in 2020 is the same as the previous two years, and the output is down 3.8% year-on-year.

China is a net importer of nitrile rubber. In 2020, China's import volume of nitrile rubber increased by 14.3% year-on-year, and its import value decreased by 8.7% year-on-year. Nitrile rubber imports are dominated by general trade and imported processing trade. In 2020, general trade will account for 78.3% of total imports; imported processing trade will account for 8.3% of total imports. According to the statistics of import sources, China's imports of nitrile rubber in 2020 will mainly come from countries or regions such as South Korea, the Russian Federation and Japan, accounting for about 84.3% of the total imports. China's nitrile rubber export volume has been maintained at a relatively low level in recent years, and the export volume in 2020 will decrease by 7.7% year-on-year.

In 2020, China's apparent consumption of nitrile rubber increased by 1.8% year-on-year, and the self-sufficiency rate fell by 4.1 percentage points year-on-year. The downstream consumption of nitrile rubber in China is dominated by pipe tape, foaming and sealing industries. Among them, pipe and belt products accounted for about 31% of the industry, foamed products accounted for about 29%, and sealed products accounted for about 25%. Other aspects are mainly wires and cables, shoe materials, conveyor belts, and rubber rollers.

In the next two years, four Chinese companies have plans to increase the production capacity of nitrile rubber. It is estimated that by 2022, China will increase the production capacity of nitrile rubber by about 105,000 tons per year. Driven by demands from industries such as hoses, foaming, and sealing, China's nitrile rubber consumption will increase steadily in the future. It is estimated that the average annual growth rate of China's apparent consumption of nitrile rubber from 2018 to 2022 is 4.1%.