[copper Summit] Review and analysis of sulphuric acid production capacity, output, consumption, import and export in China

SMM7 March 16: Li Chong, Secretary General of China sulphuric Acid Industry Association, delivered a speech entitled "current situation and Development trend of sulphuric Acid Industry" at the 2020 China (Yingtan) Copper Industry Summit and the 15th China International Copper Industry chain Summit, which gave an in-depth explanation on the operation, consumption, import and export and development trend of the sulphuric acid industry.

Operation of sulphuric acid industry

Production capacity

According to the statistics of the association, by the end of 2019, China's total sulphuric acid production capacity was 124 million tons, up 2.1% from the same period last year, of which sulphur sulphuric acid production capacity was 53.17 million tons, down 1.1% from the same period last year; smelting acid production capacity was 44.09 million tons, up 6.2% from the same period last year; and pyrite sulphuric acid production capacity was 23.53 million tons, up 1.0% from the same period last year.

New production capacity

In 2019, China's new sulfuric acid production capacity reached 8.68 million tons; from 2019 to 2023, China's newly built smelting acid production capacity totaled 23.08 million tons, of which smelting acid was 19.17 million tons, accounting for 83 percent; sulfur sulfonic acid production was 2.76 million tons; and pyrite acid production was 1 million tons.

The new production capacity is mainly distributed in Hubei, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Gansu, Shandong and other provinces.

Output

According to the statistics of the association, the total output of sulfuric acid in 2019 is 97.36 million tons, another all-time high, up 0.5% from the same period last year. Of this total, sulfuric acid production from sulfur was 41.65 million tons, down 6.0% from the same period last year; smelting acid output was 37.39 million tons, up 7.0% from the same period last year, maintaining a continuous growth trend in the past 20 years; and pyrite sulphuric acid production was 16.84 million tons, up 1.9% from the same period last year.

Operating rate

According to the statistics of the association, the average operating rate of China's sulphuric acid industry in 2019 is 78.8%, down 0.9 percentage points from the same period last year. The operating rate of sulphuric acid production from pyrite was 71.6 percent, up 0.7 percentage points from the same period last year; the operating rate of sulphur sulphuric acid production was 78.3 percent, down 4.1 percentage points from the same period last year; and the operating rate of smelting acid was 84.8 percent, up 0.6 percentage points from the same period last year.

Distribution of sulphuric acid industry

Ranking of sulphuric acid enterprises

Consumption of sulfuric acid

Sulphuric acid consumption

According to the statistics of the association, China's apparent sulphuric acid consumption in 2019 was 95.72 million tons, down 0.8% from the same period last year, showing a small negative growth for three consecutive years, which further confirmed that China's sulphuric acid consumption has entered a plateau.

Among them, industrial acid consumption accounted for 42.9%, up 2.1 percentage points from the same period last year;

Acids used in chemical fertilizers accounted for 57.1%, down 2.1 percentage points from the same period last year.

Acid for chemical fertilizer

Most of the acids used in chemical fertilizer belong to those used in phosphate and compound fertilizer.

Among them, diammonium phosphate and monoammonium phosphate accounted for 36.3% and 35.7% respectively.

Industrial acid

Among the industrial acids, the largest acid consumption is titanium dioxide by sulfuric acid process, accounting for 27.9% of the total industrial acid.

Followed by hydrofluoric acid, feed calcium, caprolactam, viscose fiber and so on.

Price trend

The price of sulfuric acid in China dropped sharply in 2019. The national average price of sulfuric acid was 340 yuan / ton at the beginning of the year and dropped to 150 yuan / ton at the end of the year.

Serious overcapacity and weak downstream demand are the main reasons for the price decline.

Import and export of sulfuric acid

Import situation

According to customs statistics, China's sulphuric acid imports dropped sharply in 2019, and import prices are basically stable. Imports of sulfuric acid for the whole year totaled 531000 tons, down 44.3 percent from the same period last year; excluding high-priced acids, the average import price was 42.90 US dollars per ton, up 5.1 per cent from the same period last year.

Source of imported sulfuric acid

From the source of imported sulfuric acid, South Korea is the largest source of imported sulfuric acid in China, accounting for 89.6%. Other sources include Japan, Taiwan, and so on.

Where is the import of sulfuric acid?

From the point of view of the destination of imported sulfuric acid, Jiangsu and Shandong Customs imported the most sulfuric acid, and the sulfuric acid imported by Jiangsu Customs was also mainly sold to southern Shandong.

Export situation

China's sulphuric acid exports continued to enlarge in 2019. According to customs statistics, China's total exports of sulfuric acid in 2019 totaled 2.175 million tons, up 69.8 percent from the same period last year, and continued to reach a record high again; the average export price was 46.2US dollars per ton, down 7.2 per cent from the same period last year.

Export trend of sulfuric acid

Where is the exit?

From the point of view of the destination of sulphuric acid exports, Morocco, Chile and India are the main target countries for China's sulphuric acid exports, accounting for 30.7%, 30.6% and 21.7%, respectively.

Source of sulphuric acid for export

Most of the enterprises engaged in the export of sulfuric acid in China are mainly registered in Jiangsu, Guangxi and Shanghai; from the perspective of export sulfuric acid production enterprises, there are mainly four enterprises: Shuangshi in Zhangjiagang, Tongling Nonferrous, Jinchuan in Guangxi and Copper in Southeast China.

Prospect of import and export of sulfuric acid

Import: the amount of imported acid will continue to decline; imported acid is mainly in South Korea, except in special cases, Japanese acid will not enter the Chinese market.

Export: China's smelting acid production is growing rapidly, and domestic smelting acid has a demand for export. The international sulphuric acid price will decline in 2020, which will further increase the difficulty of export. from the perspective of export sulfuric acid production enterprises, potential export enterprises also include enterprises from Shandong and Hubei.

Analysis on the Development trend of sulfuric Acid Industry

Overall demand has fallen steadily.

The demand for acid for chemical fertilizer continues to decline, and the production of sulphuric acid from sulfur sulfonate is reduced.

Industrial acid consumption has increased slightly, and there are still new devices for lactam, viscose fiber and titanium dioxide.

With further growth in production capacity and near saturation of demand, the sulphuric acid market will become more and more difficult in the future.

In particular, the completion and commissioning of large-scale plants will inevitably lead to the imbalance between supply and demand of sulfuric acid in some areas and rebalance.

The sulphuric acid market determines the operating rate of smelting.

Summary

Smelting enterprises must pay attention to the market of by-product sulfuric acid.

The problem of the way out of sulfuric acid should be fully considered in the site selection of new projects.

Focus on attracting and cultivating surrounding acid enterprises to form a symbiotic relationship;

Attach importance to the construction of basic logistics capacity and constantly enhance the capacity of water transport and railway transport;

Copper smelting is an industry with full international competition, which constantly taps its potential to reduce processing costs and improve the recovery rate of precious metals.

Recognize the seriousness of the sulfuric acid market and be prepared to subsidize freight in the short term or even in the long term.

Strengthen cooperation, open up the "international market", and constantly enhance international competitiveness;

Smelting enterprises take the initiative to extend the sulphuric acid product chain to enrich the variety of sulfuric acid products;

It is necessary to have a full understanding of the by-product sulfuric acid in coal chemical industry, refinery, coking plant, carbon sulfide and other industries.

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