Development status and trend analysis of global Caustic Soda Market

In recent years, the growth rate of Caustic Soda production capacity in the world has fluctuated from 4% to 6%. In 2012, the global Caustic Soda production capacity has a large expansion, with the capacity growth rate of 9.42%, and the annual capacity increase of about 7.959 million tons. The reason for the big increase may be that the global consumption demand, especially the main Sodium Hydroxide consumer, has been expanding from 2010 to 2011, with the growth rate at a higher level in history, of which, in 2011, China's consumption growth rate was 14.88%. Since 2012, the growth of global Sodium Hydroxide production capacity has slowed down. By the end of 2020, the global caustic soda production capacity has reached 99.95 million tons.

From the perspective of the distribution of Caustic Soda production capacity in 2020, the global Caustic Soda production capacity is mainly concentrated in Asia, with Asia accounting for about 62% of the total global capacity, of which China accounts for the largest, accounting for about 44% of the global capacity. In addition to China, Northeast Asian countries Japan and South Korea are also big traditional Sodium Hydroxide producers. According to the detailed data of 2019, Japan and South Korea have 5 million tons and 2.2 million tons respectively in 2019. In recent years, the pattern of Caustic Soda production in Asia has changed greatly, and the capacity of India has gradually increased, surpassing Korea. In 2019, the capacity is 3.96 million tons, ranking third among Asian countries.

Throughout the demand data of caustic soda in recent 10 years, The demand was reduced slightly in 2020 due to COVID 19 pandemic, and the demand for Caustic Soda has increased year by year, but the growth rate has slowed down. From 2010 to 2012, the growth rate of Caustic Soda demand was relatively high, with an average growth rate of 5.65%. According to the global demand data in 2020, the total demand of global Caustic Soda market is 75.772 million tons, which is lower than 79.209 million tons in 2019.

Specifically, the global demand for Caustic Soda is mainly concentrated in Asia, Europe and North America. At the same time, Asia is also the region with the fastest growth rate of demand. By the end of 2020, Asia's annual demand will reach 46.738 million tons, accounting for 61.68% of the global total demand, while Asian demand is mainly concentrated in China, with an annual demand of 32.563 million tons.

The demand of Caustic Soda in Europe is close to that in North America. In 2020, the demand will be 11.621 million tons, accounting for about 15% of the total global demand. It is reported that the growth of European demand is mainly concentrated in the chemical industry, pulp, soap industry and other fields. The demand in North America will also account for about 15% in 2020, mainly concentrated in the United States, and the main downstream industries are chemical industry, pulp and paper industry, etc. The growth rate of demand for caustic soda in Europe and America is relatively limited.

The main export regions of global Caustic Soda are mostly distributed in the regions with relatively concentrated production capacity, namely North America and Asia, with the United States and China as the main export countries. Based on the supply and demand data of caustic soda in recent 10 years, it can be seen that the capacity of Caustic Soda in China and North America is relatively excess. In 2020, the capacity of caustic soda in China and North America is about 1.186 million tons and 1.988 million tons; The net export volume was 1.05 million tons and 1.938 million tons respectively.

For Chinese market, the downstream industry with the largest consumption of Caustic Soda in China is alumina industry. In 2020, the demand for Caustic Soda would be about 11.039 million tons, accounting for about 31%; The chemical industry's demand for Caustic Soda ranked second, accounting for about 14%, with a demand of 4.986 million tons. In addition, the industries with annual demand for Caustic Soda in China exceeding 2 million tons mainly include printing and dyeing, chemical fiber, water treatment, medicine, light industry, etc.

China is the main net exporter of Caustic Soda. In 2020, China exported 1.1546 million tons of Caustic Soda, while the import volume is only 43600 tons, and the net export volume will reach 1.111 million tons. Compared with the total demand, the import and export volume of China's Caustic Soda is small, which mainly plays a role in regulating the supply and demand balance of China's Caustic Soda market.

According to the import and export data of Caustic Soda in recent 10 years, China's import volume has increased significantly since 2018. In 2018, the import volume of caustic soda was 40900 tons, with a year-on-year increase of about 270%; The import of caustic soda will be 69900 tons in 2019, an increase of 70% compared with 2018; Due to the COVID 19 epidemic situation in 2020, the import volume had declined, but there were still 43600 tons, mainly due to the obvious rise of domestic prices after 2018 and the inflow of foreign low-cost caustic soda.

In terms of exports, China has always been a net exporter of Caustic Soda, but the export volume has declined significantly since 2017. In 2019, the export volume is about 1.14 million tons, a 47% decrease compared with 2011. First, the domestic caustic soda price is high and the export attraction is limited; Second, the demand for caustic soda abroad is limited; Third, India issued BIS certification, which hindered its export to India.

In 2020, the total export volume of China's solid Caustic Soda to other countries and regions is 316000 tons, and the main exporting countries are Vietnam, Indonesia, Russia, Ghana, Nigeria, Kazak, and Djibouti, among which the export volume of the top six countries is no less than 30000 tons. In 2020, the total amount of the top 10 liquid caustic soda exports is 539000 tons, and the export volume of liquid caustic soda is larger than that of solid caustic soda, of which Australia has a larger export volume.