according to , due to the impact of the global financial crisis in 2009, the carbon fiber industry experienced recession and many manufacturers of carbon fiber have delayed or slowed down their development plans. however, with the improvement of economic conditions in 2010, the global carbon fiber market is recovering rapidly.
huge demand stimulates the rebound of carbon fiber market
at the recent 2009 conference on carbon fiber, the participating experts agreed that the global carbon fiber supply and demand will resume soon. in april, the world's leading manufacturer of carbon fiber, toray carbon fiber company, increased its price by 15%. a survey shows that in 2010 the global carbon fiber market will have a demand of 32,000 tons per year with an increase of 78.3%, compared to that of 2001.
aerospace has always been an important market for carbon fiber. from 2009 to 2010, more than 80 unique commercial aircraft were produced with carbon fiber composite materials or prepared for the relevant qualifications. in addition, the single-aisle aircraft currently under development or in production will also adopt the carbon fiber materials.
in addition to the aerospace industry, with the development of a new global market for wind power, wind turbine blades have become a major new application of carbon fiber materials. some experts predict that by 2014, there will be more than 50,000 metric tons of fiber entering into the blade market every year.
opportunity to rise for the carbon fiber industry in china
at present, the global carbon fiber market is growing every year at a double-digit rate and china's domestic demand for carbon fiber is also increasing. however, the production of carbon fiber in china is still in its infancy, which accounts for 40% of the world’s carbon fiber production capacity, and 90% of domestic consumption is of imports.
faced with these enormous business opportunities, manufacturers of carbon fiber in china started to take action.
in march, the research and development of industrial carbon fiber composite materials and engineering technology promotion began a new project with a total investment of 5.1 billion in sanhe city. when completed, it will achieve an annual output of 10,000 tons of carbon fiber precursor and 3000 tons of carbon fiber composite materials.
this june, jiangsu hengshen group’s carbon fiber production line will be put into operation with a capacity of 3.6 million square meters. based on this, hengshen group plans to invest 3.6 billion yuan to build an industrial production base with an annual output of 6,000 tons of carbon fiber in 5 years and five composite plants to form a complete industrial chain.
today, more and more carbon fiber manufacturers see these opportunities and potential markets. they are strengthening their r&d and production scales, which in turn strengthens china's entire carbon fiber industry. taking advantage of the rebound the carbon fiber market is currently experiencing, china’s carbon fiber industry is ready to rise.
