the global demand for acrylonitrile will increase at a rate of 7%, exceeding 5 million tons, as asia's demand grows at an unexpected rate. according to statistics from tecnon orbichem, a british company, the world’s production capacity for acrylonitrile is around 6.2 million tons per year. however, there is no planned project except for two sets of units in china and thailand, which plan to begin production this year. therefore, it is estimated that the global short supply of acrylonitrile will continue through the next few years.
according to estimates, the amount of acrylonitrile used in polypropylene fiber production will remain the same this year. however, the amount of acrylonitrile applied in other fields will increase by 14%, far more than originally estimated. influenced by china's household electrical appliances market, the demand for abs resin will increase by 10%. people of this field predict that the sustained increase of abs application will boost the demand for acrylonitrile at the downstream levels of abs production.
in 2009, the growth of polypropylene fiber production sparked a 5% increase in the demand for acrylonitrile, amounting to 4.7 million tons. in the first half of 2010, major production units in japan, south korea and chinese taiwan were under maintenance. on the other hand, their downstream production was demanding a greater supply of acrylonitrile. these two factors led to the scarcity of acrylonitrile and the increase of its price from $1,850/ton to $2,200/ton, which also indicates better profitability.
