Research, Analysis and Prospect Forecast on PVA Import and Export Market, 2011-2018

The related data suggested: in 2011, the market demand scale of PVA was 581,200 t; by the end of 2011, the market demand scale of PVA in China was 634,700 t, up 5.17% over the same period of 2012, specifically as shown in the following figure

With high adhesive strength, sound film-forming property and high epithelial membrane strength on cellulose, PVA is mainly used as paper surface sizing agent, pigment adhesives and beater additives in paper-making industry, it can improve the wearbility, foldability and tear strength of paper, as well as the brightness, smoothness and printing adaptability of paper. In China, do not only the middle and low-grade paper surface sizing agent use PVA, but also the middle and high-grade paper, such as: color ink-jet printing paper, thermal paper and carbonless copy paper even use the imported PVA, which mainly include PVA-205(0588), PVA-203(0388), PVA-117(17-99), PVA-105 and BF-05(05-99) in Kuraray in Japan and Changchun Group in Taiwan.

Seeing from the status quo of paper-making industry in China, the development of paper-making industry in China has entered into rapid-growth period in recent years. The total output of paper and paperboard in China is considerably lower than the total consumption, and the per capita consumption of paper in China is far lower than that in developed countries. The development of paper-making industry is characterized by:

• Technology Intensive: 60% of investment on paper-making industry is equipment investment and automation level is higher than general manufacturing industries.


• Capital intensive: In global paper-making industry, each output value of USD 100 takes USD 154 of assets, similar with metallurgy, oil and chemical industry.


• Scale benefit: In paper-making industry, the equipment investment is huge and fixed cost is high. It is the most effective method for reducing cost and enhancing competiveness to enlarge scale.


• Resource constraint: Paper-making industry belongs to raw material industry and highly relies on fiber sources. The major pulping and papermaking countries in world are rich in raw materials, such as: US, Canada and Fenland etc, of which 90% adopt wood pulp paper making and the forest overages rank forefront in world.


• The growth rate of output and consumption of paper keeps in step with national economy and GDP basically, while it was higher than GDP in the rapid growth period of industrialization.

The production area of Machine-made Paper and Paperboard Industry in China is highly concentrated. According to the statistics data in 2013, the outputs of Machine-made Paper and Paperboard Industry is mainly concentrated in East China, South China and Central China, accounting for 52.4%, 21.1% and 12.7% of total output in China in the same period respectively.

Textile industry is an industry with high labor-intensive and dependency rate. China is the largest producer and exporter of textile products and garments.

PVA is mainly used in pulp pure polyester and T/C & CVC Yarns, with sound adhesiveness and film forming ability, but for the high count pure yarn, some parts of PVA should be used by mixing with acrylic acid size. The main varieties in this industry include PVA17-99 and PVA05-88. The market mainly concentrated in East China, Shandong, Hubei, Sichuan and Chongqing etc.

Influenced by macro environment and industry environment, in 2013, both civil coating and industrial coating took on the momentum of growth, but the growth rate of industrial coatings was lower than that of civil coating. Because of varieties of conflicts faced by coating industry, the pressure brought about by the adjustment and transformation of Macro economy and the tightening regulation of real estate industry, the rising prices of raw materials and labor force and the higher cost of transportation and logistics, the coating industry has been facing the challenges of industry upgrade and adjustment transformation.

It is expected that the total output of coating industry will hit 16 million t, up 22.76% over the same period of last year.

1) Medical field

Unlike chemical grade PVA, the pharmaceutical grade PVA is a very safe high molecular organic substance, has no toxicity to human body, no side effects and has sound biocompatibility, especially its hydrogel is widely used in ophthalmology, wound dressing and artificial joints in medical treatment, meanwhile, the PVA film is also used in medical film and artificial kidney film. Its safety can be seen from wound and skin restoration and eye drop products. some models are also used in face pack, face clean cream, toner and latex, it is a common-used safe film former.

2). Photo voltaic PVB film

PVB film is mainly used as glass membrane. PVB laminated glass has such excellent performances as safety, heat insulation, sound proofing and ultraviolet isolation etc. High-grade PVB film can be applied in automobile windscreen and airplane, tank and warship bulletproof glass in military industry, and also in solar cell and solar receiver etc. Although the price of PVB film is higher than EVA film in China, its excellent anti-aging performance as well as the increasingly forceful support to solar energy industry in China, the consumption of PVB film by photovoltaic cell sealing glass in downstream will be huge. In the next few years, with the rapid growth of photovoltaic cell, automobile and real estate industries, the demand for PVB resin in China will increase explosively, which will result into the considerable increase of PVA application in PVB industry.

3).Biodegradable PVA film

The water-soluble PVA film is a budding new-type plastic products internationally, it can be completely degraded into CO2 and H2O by taking advantage of the film forming ability of PVA and degradability of water and biology, and certainly lives up to green high-tech package materials. In Euro-America countries and Japan, the water-soluble PVA film has been widely used in the package of various products. While in China, the water-soluble PVA film is till initial stage, the industrial R&D is really conducted only in recent 5 years, and it is mainly applied in two fields: embroidery and water transfer printing (the calor printing in glass, ceramics, shell of electric appliances etc.), which consume PVA for about 10,000 t. As a major plastic consumer, China consumes total of almost 10 million t of various plastic films per year, in which, if PVA film substitutes for 5% of shares, the demand for PVA film will be hundreds of thousands t per year. With increasingly being integrated into international practice, the environment protection requirements on package is higher day by day, which is a forceful support to the promotion and development of water-soluble PVA package film, of which the market potential is huge.