Chinese carbon black exports doubled in 2011 says report

Specialist chemical industry publisher CCM, based in Guangzhou, has announced plans to release the third edition of its multi-client report on China’s carbon black industry this May, reports Focus on Pigments.

CCM states that China’s carbon black production surpassed that of the USA in 2006 and has increased at an average rate of 10%/yr since then, reaching 3.4Mt in 2010. The country’s carbon black capacity is now more than 5Mt/y. Average capacity utilisation during 2010 was only 70%. Jiangsu Black Cat is the largest indigenous carbon black producer.

Others include: Fushun Carbon Black, Hebei Longxing Chemical, Henan Dongxin Tyre, Liaobin, Ningxia Jiate, Ningbo Detai, Pingdingshan Yingtai Chemical, Shandong Best Chemical Industry, Shandong Huadong Rubber Materials, Shanghai Hongte Chemical, Shanxi Yongdong, Shanxi Yuanzheng, Shijiazhuang Xinxing Chemical & Charcoal, Suzhou Baohua, Tianjin Dolphin and Wuxi Shuangcheng.

Most of the major multinationals in the industry – Cabot, CSRC, Columbian, Orion (formerly Evonik Degussa) and Tokai – have also established carbon black plants in China, sometimes in majority-owned joint ventures with local companies.
With passenger car sales in China rising by 32.4% in 2010, domestic demand for tyres and, therefore, also for carbon black, has been booming.

However, the growth of China’s tyre manufacturing sector has been slightly hampered by the imposition of anti-dumping duties on passenger car tyres imported from China into the USA onwards from early 2010.
Exports in 2011 are expected to be double the 2010 level.