Development of glass fiber industry
Glass fiber use and industrial chain situation
Fiberglass (Fibreglass) is an inorganic non-metallic material with excellent performance. It has a wide variety of advantages. The advantages are good insulation, strong heat resistance, good corrosion resistance, and high mechanical strength. Glass fiber is generally used as a reinforcement material in composite materials, electrical insulation materials, thermal insulation materials, circuit substrates and other fields of the national economy. The specific uses are as follows:
- In the field of construction, its application is embodied in the aspects of thermal insulation, waterproofing, durability and energy saving. Almost all the thermal insulation system of the exterior wall of the building uses glass fiber, which has obvious effects of thermal insulation, energy saving, waterproof and crack resistance. Glass fiber reinforced cement reduces the amount of cement. To extend the service life, FRP is widely used in lighting, sanitation, decoration, heating and ventilation.
- In the field of transportation, the main focus is on the wear resistance, corrosion resistance, light weight and high strength of glass fiber materials. The sleepers made of glass fiber reinforced composite materials are used for track construction. The vehicle parts made of glass fiber include doors, windows, seats, Decoration, etc., durable and able to achieve the goal of automobile lightweight.
- In the electronic field, the application is embodied in the aspect of insulation and corrosion protection, which is mostly used for electrical enclosures, electrical components and electrical components.
- In the field of energy saving and environmental protection, wind power blades, unit covers and insulating supports are mainly made of glass fiber reinforced plastics. The main raw materials in the upstream of the glass fiber industry are pyrophyllite, boronite, limestone, etc., and the fuel and power are natural gas and electricity. Among them: the raw material is mainly pyrophyllite, accounting for 50% of the raw material. The domestic reserves of pyrophyllite ore account for about 30% of the world, mainly concentrated in Zhejiang and Fujian, with sufficient supply and stable prices, and the upstream voice is not strong. The midstream fiberglass industry mainly produces fiberglass strands, fiberglass products, and fiberglass composite materials. The midstream fiberglass industry presents an oligopoly with strong bargaining power over upstream and downstream. There are a wide range of downstream applications, such as construction, transportation, electronic appliances, wind energy, aerospace, chemical and chemical industries, etc., with a huge market space.
Development status of global and Chinese glass fiber industry
Global and Chinese glass fiber production has increased year by year, and China has become the world’s largest country in glass fiber production capacity
- From 2012 to 2019, the average annual compound growth rate of China’s glass fiber production capacity reached 7%, which was higher than the global average annual compound growth rate of glass fiber production capacity. Especially in the past two years, as the supply and demand relationship of glass fiber products has improved, the downstream application fields have continued to expand, and the market boom has rebounded rapidly. In 2019, the output of glass fiber in mainland China reached 5.27 million tons, accounting for more than half of the total global output. China has become the world’s largest glass fiber producer. According to statistics, from 2009 to 2019, the global glass fiber output has shown an overall upward trend. In 2018, the global glass fiber output was 7.7 million tons and reached about 8 million tons in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 3.90% compared to 2018.
2. China’s glass fiber production proportion fluctuates up
During the period 2012-2019, China’s glass fiber production accounted for the global glass fiber output, showing a fluctuating and rising trend. In 2012, China’s glass fiber output accounted for 54.34%. In 2019, China’s glass fiber output increased to 65.88%. In seven years, the proportion increased by nearly 12%. It can be seen that the global glass fiber supply increase mainly comes from China. China’s glass fiber industry is expanding rapidly globally, establishing China’s leading position in the world’s glass fiber market.
3. Global and Chinese glass fiber competition landscape
There are six major manufacturers in the global fiberglass industry: the domestic Jushi Group Co., Ltd., Chongqing International Composite Materials Co., Ltd., Taishan Fiberglass Co., Ltd., and Owens Corning-Vitotex (OCV) in the United States. , PPG Industries and Johns Manville (JM). At present, these 6 companies account for about 73% of the total global glass fiber production capacity. The entire industry is characterized by oligopoly. Calculated according to the production capacity of enterprises in various countries, China accounted for about 60% of global glass fiber production capacity in 2019.
China’s glass fiber industry has a relatively high concentration of enterprises. Leading companies represented by China Jushi, Taishan Fiberglass, and Chongqing International account for most of the production capacity of China’s glass fiber industry. Among them, China Jushi has the highest proportion of glass fiber production capacity, at about 34%. Taishan Fiberglass (17%) and Chongqing International (17%) are close behind. These three companies account for nearly 70% of the production capacity of China’s glass fiber industry
Development prospects of glass fiber industry
Glass fiber is a very good substitute for metal materials. With the rapid development of the market economy, glass fiber has become an indispensable raw material for construction, transportation, electronics, electrical, chemical, metallurgy, environmental protection, national defense and other industries. Because it has been widely used in many fields, glass fiber has received increasing attention. The world’s major glass fiber production and consumption countries are mainly developed countries such as the United States, Europe, and Japan, and their per capita glass fiber consumption is relatively high.
In recent years, the National Bureau of Statistics has included glass fiber and glass fiber products in the “Strategic Emerging Industry Classification” catalog. With policy support, China’s glass fiber industry will develop rapidly. In the long run, the strengthening and transformation of infrastructure in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific will increase the demand for glass fiber by a large amount. As the global demand for glass fiber in modified glass fiber plastics, sports equipment, aerospace and other aspects continues to grow, The outlook for the fiberglass industry is optimistic.
In addition, the application field of glass fiber has expanded to the wind power market, which is a bright spot in the future development of glass fiber. The energy crisis has prompted countries to seek new energy. Wind energy has become a focus of attention in recent years. Countries have also begun to increase investment in the field of wind power, which will further promote the development of the glass fiber industry.