Summary : China's wet - process phosphoric acid industry has grown rapidly, with a 2018 - 2023 production capacity CAGR of 28.33%. Guizhou Phosphate Group, the industry leader, is ramping up expansion; its capacity will hit 3 million tons by 2026. Policy - driven, the sector is moving towards green and high - end development. In the market, large firms dominate, squeezing SMEs, while new - field players enter. For trade, imports are down and exports are up yearly, with bright prospects for 2025.
As the world's largest supplier of high-quality wet-process purified phosphoric acid, Guizhou Phosphate Group is accelerating the implementation of a new round of capacity expansion and production increase plans. By the second half of 2025, the production capacity of wet-process purified phosphoric acid will expand from the current 2 million tons to 2.7 million tons, and it will reach 3 million tons by 2026.
Overall Situation
In recent years, the production capacity of wet-process phosphoric acid in China has been growing rapidly. The compound annual growth rate from 2018 to 2023 reached 28.33%. In 2023, the production capacity increased to approximately 3.48 million tons, and the output reached 1.95 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 35.42%, accounting for 68.66% of the total phosphoric acid production. With the growth of market demand and the capacity expansion plans of enterprises, it is expected that the production capacity and output of wet-process phosphoric acid will continue to grow in 2025.
Under the continuous influence of policies such as the national "14th Five-Year Plan" guidelines for promoting the high-quality development of the petrochemical and chemical industries, the phosphate chemical industry, including the wet-process phosphoric acid industry, will continue to develop towards the direction of green and low-carbon, high-end, refinement, and industrial integration. The gradual tightening of environmental protection policies has put forward higher requirements for the wastewater and exhaust gas emissions of the wet-process phosphoric acid industry. This will prompt enterprises to increase investment in the research and development of environmental protection technologies and adopt more efficient wastewater and exhaust gas treatment technologies.
New Market Ecology
Large enterprises such as Guizhou Phosphate Group, relying on their technological, scale, and cost advantages, occupy a dominant position in the market, and their market share is likely to further expand, leading to an increase in industry concentration.
Small and medium-sized enterprises, due to limited technical capabilities, high costs, and small production scale, are at a disadvantage in market competition and may face survival difficulties. Some enterprises may be merged or eliminated.
With the continuous expansion of the application fields of wet-process purified phosphoric acid, such as the new energy and electronic chemicals fields, enterprises from these fields may enter the market by cooperating with phosphate chemical enterprises or investing in the construction of wet-process purified phosphoric acid projects on their own, intensifying market competition.
Import and Export Situation
Import
In the past few years, the wet-process phosphoric acid industry in China has continuously made breakthroughs in purification technology, resulting in the continuous growth of the overall scale. The self-sufficiency rate of high-end wet-process phosphoric acid in China has gradually increased, and the dependence on imported products has gradually decreased.
For example, in the field of electronic-grade wet-process phosphoric acid, with the improvement of the technical level of domestic enterprises, the import volume has gradually decreased from thousands of tons per year in the past. By 2023, the import volume of electronic-grade phosphoric acid from countries such as Japan and South Korea was approximately 3,000 tons, which has decreased compared with the previous level.
In the field of food-grade wet-process phosphoric acid, domestic enterprises have continuously improved product quality, and the domestic market share of some internationally renowned brands of food-grade wet-process phosphoric acid has gradually been occupied by domestic enterprises. The annual import volume has also shown a slow downward trend. Previously, it was estimated that the annual import volume was around 8,000 tons, and currently, it is estimated to be around 5,000 tons.
Export
With the expansion of the production capacity of wet-process phosphoric acid in China and the improvement of product quality, the export volume has shown a year-on-year growth trend, especially in the fields of industrial-grade wet-process phosphoric acid and some mid-to-high-end food-grade wet-process phosphoric acid, and the competitiveness in the international market has gradually increased.
According to statistics, the export volume of wet-process purified phosphoric acid in China was approximately 20,000 tons in 2023, mainly exported to regions such as Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Africa. For example, in the first half of 2024, Guizhou Kailin Group Mining and Fertilizer Co., Ltd. exported 7,300 tons of food-grade wet-process purified phosphoric acid to Bangkok, Thailand. Chuanheng Co., Ltd. also stated that its purified phosphoric acid is sold internationally. With the active expansion of more domestic enterprises in the international market, it is expected that the export volume will further increase in 2025, and it is expected to exceed 30,000 tons.
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