PVC glove exports and prices are falling in 2021

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic at home and abroad in 2020, the demand for disposable gloves increased significantly, and the production line for PVC gloves increased from 990 at the beginning of 2020 to more than 1700, with the production capacity nearly doubling. The demand for DOTP, its main plasticizer raw material, has increased substantially. DOTP production will expand by nearly 1 million tons in 2020-2021, largely driven by a surge in demand for disposable PVC gloves.v

Export quantity of PVC gloves in China in 2020-2021

However, with the continuous release of COVID-19 vaccines on the market, the expected demand for gloves in the later period is weakened, so the new orders after the Spring Festival of 2021 are significantly reduced, and many foreign orders are even broken due to the price decline. In the first half of the year, as the early orders were delivered one after another, and the new orders became weak, the export volume of PVC gloves gradually decreased, and the price consciousness declined all the way. The operating load of PVC glove enterprises decreased significantly, especially since June 2021, the production load of PVC gloves has maintained at about 2-3 percent for a long time.

Average export price of PVC gloves in China in 2020-2021

Although affected by the epidemic situation and other factors, PVC glove orders have improved to a certain extent since September, the strength of improvement is limited, and the operating load of the factory has not exceeded 40%. Between 2021 and 2022, with the contradiction of excess production capacity of disposable PVC gloves highlighted, it is bound to go through a wave of survival of the fittest. In the later period, the demand for plasticizer for disposable PVC gloves will be reduced to a certain extent, so as to return to rationality.