Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue: Global and China Carbon Fiber Industry Report, 2012-2015
Carbon fiber is a new generation of reinforced fiber, mainly used in the fields of aerospace, wind power, automotive, sports and leisure. Industrial applications like wind power, automotive and pressure vessel account for the largest demand for carbon fiber, which is more than 60%, followed by aerospace, with enhanced application and hence steadily increased demand; the growth of demand from sports and leisure has been relatively slow. The global carbon fiber demand maintained a CAGR of 14.1% in 2008-2012, and hit 54,500 tons in 2012.
In 2010-2012, as the demand for carbon fiber has been recovered, global leading carbon fiber manufacturers have accelerated the capacity expansion of carbon fiber. In 2012, the global carbon fiber capacity reached 114,000 tons, a year-on-year growth of 18.3%.
Due to the complex process and high technical content of carbon fiber production, global carbon fiber capacity is mainly concentrated in Japanese and U.S. enterprises. Japan's Toray, Toho and Mitsubishi Rayon, mainly engaged in the production of PAN-based small-tow (?24K) carbon fiber, accounted for 2/3 of the global total small-tow carbon fiber capacity in 2012. Toray is the largest carbon fiber manufacturer in the world, with an annual capacity of 18,900 tons in 2012.
U.S. Zoltek and German SGL, mainly engaged in the production of large-tow (>24K) PAN-based carbon fiber, accounted for about 3/4 of the global large-tow carbon fiber capacity in 2012. Japanese Kureha, mainly engaged in the production of pitch-based carbon fiber, is the largest pitch-based carbon fiber producer in the world, with an annual capacity of 1,800 tons in 2012.
Stimulated by incentive policies and the gap between supply and demand, coupled with the gradual progress of industrial technology, China's carbon fiber industry is ushering in rapid development. China's carbon fiber capacity maintained a CAGR of 46.2% in 2008-2012, and reached 14,521 tons in 2012. As China's carbon fiber production technology hasn't been mature and most production lines are in the initial stage of production, the plant operating rate has been generally low. In 2012, the actual output was only 3,500 tons, and the import dependency rate was about 70%.
In 2012, China's major producers of carbon fiber include ZhongFuShenYing, Jiangsu Hengshen, Tianhua Excel-Way, Weihai Tuozhan Fiber, HNCC Yongmei, etc. Among which, only ZhongFuShenYing and Jiangsu Hengshen each boast an annual carbon fiber output of about 1,000 tons, and an annual capacity of 3,000 tons at present.
In addition, there are about 38,000 tons of carbon fiber capacities under planning/construction in China. The projects to be put into production in 2013 include 2,000 t/a carbon fiber project of Kingfa, 1,500 t/a carbon fiber project of Sinosteel Jiangcheng Carbon Fiber, and 1,500 t/a carbon fiber project of Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical.
Global and China Carbon Fiber Industry Report, 2012-2015 of ResearchInChina mainly covers the followings:
- Global carbon fiber industry supply and demand, competition pattern and price;
- China carbon fiber industry supply and demand, import & export and price;
- China carbon fiber industry competition pattern, projects under planning/construction, supply and demand, consumption structure forecasts, etc.;
- Operation, carbon fiber business and development trends of nine carbon fiber production enterprises overseas;
- Operation, carbon fiber business and development forecasts of nine carbon fiber production enterprises as well as the development trends of 20 carbon fiber producers in mainland China.