Polycarbonates (PC)

Owing to the rapid development in electric/electronic appliances, computers, telecommunications and building materials, the domestic PC demand has been increasing year on year, exceeding that of nylon. PC is regarded as one of the largest categories of engineering plastics, but most of the supply still depends on imports.

Table 6.4.4: Imports of polycarbonates (thousand tons per annum)
Year	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001 ( predicted )
Volume	81.8	108.8	160.5	180	200

Table 6.4.5: Polycarbonates consumption pattern by end-use (%)
End use	1997	1998	1999	2000
Optical medium	35	40	42	41
Sheet profile	1	2	2	4
Water bottles/package	12	10	11	9
Electric/electronic appliances	46	43	40	40
Others	6	5	5	6

In China, PC is mainly used for electric/electronic appliances, compact discs, packaging, textiles and building materials. In 2000, the domestic demand for building sheets increased significantly, because of the rapid development of the road building and construction sectors. The price of PC climbed to the highest level in recent years, and import prices approached 40,000 yuan per ton, 12,000 yuan higher than that in the previous two years .

It is expected that Teijin Chemical Co Ltd of Japan will set up a solely-owned, 50,000-100,000 tons per annum PC production line in China. Existing domestic PC facilities are also expected to expand. Lanxing Company intends to use the transesterification process to build up a PC unit with an output of 10,000-50 000 tons per annum. The domestic PC market will face fierce competition in the future. It is forecast that PC price will probably be fixed at about 24,000 yuan per ton.