A brief analysis of the current situation of color masterbatch

A brief analysis of the current situation of color masterbatch

China’s masterbatch industry started in the mid-1970s. After more than 30 years, especially the rapid development from the 1990s to the present, China’s masterbatch industry has an annual production capacity of 300,000 tons, which can basically meet the needs of the plastics and chemical fiber industries.
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In the next few years, China’s masterbatch industry is expected to enter steady development and move towards multi-functionality, high pigment content and high technology content.

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Obvious regional characteristics
China’s masterbatch industry currently shows a trend of being strong in the south and weak in the north, strong in the east and weak in the west. Manufacturers with an annual production capacity of more than 1,000 tons are the pillars of industry development. There are more than 250 masterbatch manufacturers in China, of which more than 50 large enterprises have a production capacity exceeding 60% of the total capacity. They are mainly concentrated in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, especially large enterprises with an annual output of more than 1,000 tons. in the South.
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This distribution also shows the same trend as China’s economic development. Some good masterbatch companies can tailor the required masterbatch varieties according to customer requirements. Each company has its own characteristics and expertise, which can basically meet the needs of domestic customers. Many masterbatch factories can also produce functional masterbatch and Plastic modified materials. ​ ​ ​
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Domestic masterbatch production capacity is distributed by region. Guangdong has a very large production capacity, accounting for 41.82% of the total production capacity; Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai account for 33%; Shandong 10.62%. These regions account for more than 85% of China’s masterbatch production capacity. It can be seen that the southeast coast is the main area for the development of China’s masterbatch industry.
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Varieties tend to be diverse
China has a relatively complete range of masterbatch varieties, and general-purpose products can fully meet the needs of the domestic plastics processing industry. Distribution of domestic masterbatch varieties. Analysis of masterbatch varieties by color. Black and white masterbatch account for almost 80% of the total masterbatch production capacity, and colored masterbatch only accounts for 20%. At present, a large part still needs to be imported. . ​ ​ ​
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In the production of masterbatch, fiber masterbatch has higher requirements on technology and raw materials, and the production technology of masterbatch is also due to the coloring of polypropylene fiber. The total annual production of domestic fiber masterbatch has reached 2.6W tons, accounting for 10% of the total production capacity of color masterbatch. It can be seen that masterbatch, a technology invented to solve the problem of polypropylene coloring, has been more widely used in the field of plastic coloring. ​ ​ ​
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PET and PP fibers are developing rapidly in China, while PA fiber has a smaller market share. The output distribution proportions of PET, PP and PA fiber masterbatch are currently 68.2%, 30.2% and 1.6% respectively. As multinational companies’ PA projects settle in China, China’s PA masterbatch R&D and production must also catch up. ​ ​ ​
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With the rapid development of China’s engineering plastics in recent years, engineering plastics such as PA, PC, fluoroplastics and special engineering plastics have put forward higher requirements for masterbatch. The School of Materials Science and Engineering of Beijing University of Chemical Technology recently successfully developed polyperfluoroethylene-propylene masterbatch, filling the domestic gap. During the development process, it solved the problems of raw material selection, formula and production process adjustment, and successfully prepared white, Yellow, green, blue, red, orange, brown and black full-color polyperfluoroethylene-propylene color masterbatch is used in wires and cables, and its electrical and mechanical properties fully meet the requirements. The successful development of this project has laid a good theoretical and practical foundation for the development of high-grade masterbatch for engineering plastics in China.
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Foreign businessmen are rushing to seize the beach
China has now become one of the most multi-color masterbatch production and demand countries in Asia, and it is also a very large demand market in the future world. According to relevant information, the average annual growth rate of demand for color masterbatch in other Asian countries is about 7% to 9%, while the average annual growth rate of China’s demand for color masterbatch is about 20%. China will become a country with very fast growth in demand for color masterbatch. market. This tempting cake has attracted international masterbatch giants to rush into the Chinese market.
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In the 1990s, foreign masterbatch companies began to enter China. In September 2000, Geon and M.A. Hanna jointly founded POLYONE, known as the world’s largest polymer service company, and built masterbatch and engineering plastics production bases in Shanghai, Suzhou, and Shenzhen, China. In September 2005, POLYONE Shenzhen base underwent a large-scale expansion and built 7 production lines.
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Clariant’s masterbatch department is the world’s largest supplier of color masterbatch and functional masterbatch. It has been active in the Chinese market since 1995 and has built full-service factories in Guangzhou and Beijing. In November 2004, it opened a new factory in Xinzhuang, Shanghai. The industrial park has established a third production base in China, mainly providing color and functional masterbatch services to East China and international customers.
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PCC, a subsidiary of PMC in the United States, is building a masterbatch factory in Nanjing. The first phase of the project is expected to have a production capacity of 50 tons/month of liquid masterbatch for PET bottle blowing. The pigments are mainly produced by foreign companies such as BASF and Ciba. The second phase of the project is expected to produce solid color masterbatch. ​ ​ ​
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In addition to the original United States, Switzerland, and Japan, Singapore, South Korea, etc. are also setting up factories in China. In particular, some special engineering plastic masterbatch varieties have an advantage and are seizing the high-end masterbatch market, further intensifying competition. ​ ​ ​
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Raw materials become more diversified
The quality of masterbatch depends to a large extent on the supply of raw materials such as pigments and dispersants. China’s plastic pigments have also made great progress after years of development. The pigments produced by domestic companies such as Jiehong, Lily, Yabang and some titanium dioxide and carbon black companies are of high quality and can meet the requirements of color masterbatch. Foreign pigment manufacturers DuPont, Clariant, Ciba, BASF, etc. have built factories in China to provide high-end pigments for domestic masterbatch production. Domestic pigments are at the same level as foreign mid-range pigments, but compared with high-end pigments, there is still a certain gap in product purity, especially in terms of pigment surface treatment. ​ ​ ​
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Dispersants are additives in masterbatch that provide infiltration, dispersion, and stabilization for pigments. Dispersants in China’s masterbatch market mainly use polyethylene waxes, which include polymerization type, cracking type, and by-product type.
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Each of these three types of low molecular weight polyethylene occupies a certain market. Multinational masterbatch companies in China and domestic masterbatch core companies mostly use polymerized wax or imported wax, while low-end masterbatch products generally use lower-end by-product waxes, which mainly dominate the price. Great advantage.
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The quality of cracked wax is relatively good, and it plays an important role in the dispersant for masterbatch. The quality of domestic cracked wax, through the efforts of generations of domestic chemical workers, has become increasingly close to that of foreign countries such as Honeywell and BASF. The level of synthesis of the enterprise. It also highlights a number of good companies like Qingdao Sino, whose products have been certified for application in multiple fields in the market and have gained a good reputation in the industry.
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Composite waxes that are popular in the domestic masterbatch market also have a certain market, such as adding liquid paraffin to polyethylene wax or adding other cheap additives. This kind of wax also occupies a certain market due to its certain cost-effectiveness advantages. ​ ​ ​
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For polyolefin masterbatch, there is no special brand of carrier resin produced in China. The carrier resin used in many generations of polyolefin masterbatch is atactic polypropylene, and its second-generation carrier resin is low-density polyethylene. In recent years, linear low-density polyethylene has also been developed as a carrier resin, but it is not currently available in the market on a large scale. . Other types of masterbatch mostly use colored resin as the carrier resin of the same type of masterbatch.
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At present, China’s masterbatch industry is developing towards multi-functionality, high pigment content and high technology content. In order to comply with the development trend, domestic enterprises related to pigments, dispersants, carrier resins and equipment should improve the technical content of their products and provide masterbatch manufacturers with high-quality pigments, dispersants, special grades of carrier resins and advanced production equipment. , testing instruments and application software.
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Masterbatch manufacturers should strengthen total quality management and produce masterbatch products with stable quality, wide variety and complete functions, and contribute to the development of China’s plastics and fiber industry.
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ingdao Sino focuses on the R&D, production and application of polyethylene wax and other additives, providing you with a product system that resists precipitation, has high lubrication and is super-dispersed. The company has a mature technology R&D team and an advanced international laboratory that is open to the outside world. It provides technical support such as formula optimization, cost reduction and efficiency improvement to customers in need. At the same time, in order to comply with environmental protection requirements, we also provide a package of additives to enterprises. Chemical and additive dust-free services.
Explanation of relevant terms in this article
• Masterbatch
Colorant: Natural resin and colorant are mixed and granulated into colored plastic, which is then used in the molding process. Dry powder coloring: Mix powdery colorant and natural resin evenly and then directly use it to make plastic products. Masterbatch coloring is the most commonly used plastic coloring method today. The colorant dispersed in the carrier is simply mixed with the natural resin and then used to make plastic products.
• Pigments
[1] Pigment can also be called color scale, which is an index standard that expresses the brightness of the display screen, which is what we call the color index. The color richness and fineness of the display are determined by the color gradation. The industry standards include 256 colors, 4096 colors, and 65536 colors. The color gradation of color screen mobile phones increases based on 16 times.
• China
China is the world’s most populous country and is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council along with the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Russia. China is the world’s second largest economy, the world’s largest trading country, the world’s largest foreign exchange reserve country, the world’s largest steel producer, the world’s largest agricultural country, the world’s largest grain producer and the world’s largest economy. One of the fastest growing countries. The second largest country in attracting foreign investment, it is also an important member of many international organizations in the world and is considered one of the potential superpowers. The People’s Republic of China China is located in the east of Asia, on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. The land area is about 9.6 million square kilometers, the mainland coastline is more than 18,000 kilometers, the island coastline is more than 14,000 kilometers, and the water area of inland seas and coastal seas is about 4.7 million square kilometers. There are more than 7,600 large and small islands distributed in the sea area, of which Taiwan Island is the largest, covering an area of 35,798 square kilometers. The capital is Beijing. It borders 14 countries on land and 6 countries on sea.