Polymer WWW. CCR. COM.

CN

than 10%.
(5)Coatings and inks
PU coatings and inks have been widely
used in high-grade wood paints, high-
grade automotive paints, aircraft dope,
building coatings, heavy-duty anti-
corrosive coatings and plastic coatings,
etc. In 2012, the domestic consumption
reached more than 1.3 million tons,
second only to synthetic leather sizing
agents. Makers of PU coatings and inks
mainly use polyester polyols containing
BDO as a raw material to react with
isocyanate to obtain better adhesion and
cohesive strength.
4. The future of the BDO
sector relies on comprehensive
development
China’s PU industry started in the
1960s. In the last ten years, with the
constant growth of basic raw material
industry, the downstream product industry
has also developed rapidly. However,
China is a big country rather than a
strong country in the PU industry. In
the next few years, China’s PU industry
will enter a stable period of development
and the demand for BDO may not grow
explosively. It is expected that the average
annual growth of BDO demand in China’s
PU industry will be around 10% in the
next 3 years. Players need to speed up the
dissemination and application of BDO in
sectors like PBT, GBL and PBS. 

Matured Plastic Pipe Sector Enters a New Period of

Development in China
By Wang Zhanjie, China Plastic Processing Industry Association Plastic Pipe Committee

Overall, the macro economy in China has pipe sector is down, new entrants are achieved considerable advances. Plastic/
developed at an accelerated rate in recent usually strong. They are intent on large plastic and plastic/metal composite pipe
years. The market demand for pipe in economic scale, and most of them have a products are being developed rapidly. There
construction, municipal infrastructure, water capacity of over 30 kt/a. In the past, plastic is also a drastic increase in the consumption
conservancy, and agricultural and industrial pipe enterprises were mainly concentrated of PE-X, PE-RT, UHMW-PE and PVC-M.
sectors increased constantly, promoting in coastal areas and economically Production and application have started
rapid development of the plastic pipe sector. developed areas such as Guangdong and for products with special structures such
Zhejiang. In recent years, however, some as solid-wall pipe, corrugated pipe, ribbed
1. Capacity and industrial large enterprises have made investments pipe, braided pipe, cellular-core pipe and
concentration both increased. or expanded capacity in Northeast China, internal-spiral pipe.
North China, Central China and the Western
China’s output of plastic pipe reached Region. Owing to the construction of plants 3. Application sectors are
11.00 million tons in 2012, an increase of in these regions, the regional distribution of further expanded.
10% over the previous year. Despite the the plastic pipe sector tends to be rational.
elimination of some small enterprises in The construction sector, the municipal
some areas, there are still over 5 000 plastic 2. There are more varieties water supply/drainage sector and the
pipe enterprises in China. More than 20 of with new materials and new a g r i c u l t u r a l s e c t o r ( d r i n k i n g w a t e r,
them have a capacity of over 150 kt/a and structures. irrigation/drainage) are still the major
their output accounts for more than 35% of application sectors for plastic pipe.
the national total. Table 1 shows the output China has already established a plastic The consumption of plastic pipe in the
of plastic pipe in China in recent years. pipe processing sector with PVC, PE and PP construction sector accounts for around 60%
Unlike previous years, although the as main materials. Some technologies for of the total. The consumption proportion in
number of enterprises entering the plastic plastic pipe with new materials have also sewage treatment, heating and urban non-
excavation engineering is also increasing
Table 1 Output of Plastic Pipe in China in Recent Years (kt)
constantly. The latest market figures show
Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 that the market demand for plastic pipe in
Output 4 593 5 804 8 402 10 000 11 000
the construction sector tends to be stable,
YoY Growth (%) 28.2 18.9 31.1 19.0 10.0
whereas the consumption proportion in

CHINA CHEMICAL REPORTER October 6, 2013

23
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municipal infrastructure and special uses
has gone further up. According to statistics,
130 city-water supply enterprises added
19 729km of water supply pipe during
2010-2011. Of the total, the length of plastic
pipe was 9 159km, accounting for around
46.42% and second only to metal pipe.
4. The export volume increased
and at much higher prices.
The export of plastic pipe from China has
seen sustained growth in recent years. The
export amount was close to 500 kt in 2012,
an increase of 9.0% over the previous year.
More gratifying is that the export price has
been rising. The average export price was
US$3 816 per ton in 2012, being 14.2%
higher than the previous year.
5. Existing problems
(1) There is serious oversupply.
The plastic pipe capacity in China
today is more than 25.00 million t/a.
The overall equipment utilization rate
is quite low. There is already serious
oversupply and competition in the sector
is aggravated.
(2) Raw materials constrain the
development of the sector.
The resin sector in China has achieved
considerable progress in recent years.
The development of the PVC sector, in
particular, is quite rapid. Nevertheless,
there are still problems such as incomplete
specification and inadequate supply of
some resin varieties. Some have unreliable
quality, and some must be imported. These
factors have constrained the performance
improvement of pipe and also caused some
worries among clients about the quality of
domestic raw materials.
(3) Product innovation needs to be
strengthened.
Many similar general-purpose products
flood the market. Medium and low-grade
CHINA CHEMICAL REPORTER October 6, 2013
products dominate, whereas products with
high technical content and high added value
are relatively few. The plastic pipe sector
should develop constantly, by its own effort,
to accelerate innovation, develop new
products and further improve the precision,
reliability, stability and matching ability of
products.
(4) Project quality should be further
improved.
(5) Standardization work needs to be
further intensified.
6. Forecast
It is expected that the output of plastic
pipe in China will maintain a growth of
around 10% in next few years and reach
more than 13.20 million tons in 2015.
Plastic pipe’s share of the pipe market will
be over 50%.
While taking PVC, PE and PP pipe
as their development focus, players
in plastic pipe should strengthen
their research and development into
modified, composite and other new
plastic pipe products, quickly improve
pipe production and application
technology systems and enhance product
performance so as to keep abreast of the
expansion of new application sectors.
The development and production of
plastic pipe with new materials, modified
and composite plastic pipe, environment-
friendly plastic pipe and new plastic pipe
systems should be highlighted to meet
the performance requirements in special
sectors such as environmental protection,
energy conservation, fire control, bacteria
deterrence, insulation, oxygen inhibition,
reinforcement, shock resistance and noise
reduction.
Various modification methods should
be used to enhance the comprehensive
performance of PVC pipe materials such
as PVC-M, PVC-O, FPVC, inorganic
nanometer-modified PVC and PVC-C.
24
WWW. CCR. COM. CN
The use of environment-friendly heat
stabilizer in PVC-U pipe to replace lead salt
stabilizers should be promoted to further
expand the application scope and the market
share of PVC pipe.
The technical level and the matching
ability of same-level water drainage plastic
pipe systems, floor heating plastic pipe
systems, geothermal heat pump plastic
pipe systems, solar hot water plastic
pipe systems, reclaimed water/rain water
recycling plastic pipe systems and indoor
ventilation plastic pipe systems in the
construction sector should be further
upgraded.
Close attention should be paid to the
construction of urban water drainage
and sewage drainage pipe systems to
disseminate the use of large-diameter
plastic pipe for water drainage, such as
high-modulus PP double-wall corrugated
pipe and composite braided reinforced
pipe. Rain water recycling, storage and
reuse systems should be promoted. The
research, production and application of
large-diameter pressure plastic pipe and
composite plastic pipe for urban central
heating secondary pipeline networks should
be highlighted.
Non-excavation technologies, including
non-excavation construction and old
p i p e l i n e r e p a i r, s h o u l d b e a c t i v e l y
advocated in buried pipeline engineering.
The research, development and application
of HDPE and PE-RC with stress-cracking
resistance should be promoted.
Plastic pipe used in the medium/high-
pressure transmission of crude oil and
oil products and the abrasion-resistant,
corrosion-resistant and heat-resistant
transmission of special media and plastic
pipe with flame-retarding and antistatic
properties used in mines should be
vigorously developed. Examples include
RTP, UHMW-PE with a molecular weight
of over 2.00 million, large-diameter PEX,
special materials and composite pipe. 
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