Ethanolamines

Ethanolamines (EA for short), consisting of monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA) and triethanolamine (TEA), are widely used as raw materials for agrochemicals, surfactant, medicine, polyurethane, etc. China is a large consumer of EA, but its output is far from meeting its domestic demand, which leads to China's heavy dependence on import. Although China's EA capacity reached 97,000t/a in 2008, its total output was only 48,600 tonnes, mainly due to soaring price of raw materials in H1 and falling demand in H2 caused by financial crisis. In 2008, China consumed about 173,957 tonnes of EA, of which 125,721 tonnes or 72.3% was imported. At present, many existing manufacturers are planning to expand capacity and some new manufacturers will engage in EA production. After the launch of all these new projects, China’s total EA capacity will be four to five times as much as the current scale. Apart from the production situation, this report also provides answers to the key questions as follows. Where are the major origins of these imported EA and who are the active importers? Will the dependence on import change in the future, as China’s manufacturers have been expanding their cacity? Global financial crisis has influenced the production of EA in 2008, as well as the development of downstream industries. Will the financial crisis continue to exert impact on China's EA industry? Is it likely to maintain rapid growth in the coming years under present economy recession? The tight supply of ethylene oxide (EO) has been a key factor restricting the production of China’s EA producers, which results in price fluctuation of EA. Will such situation continue in the future? To promote the development of China’s EA industry, Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China began to levy antidumping duty with rate of 9%~74% on EA from some countries and regions. How does the antidumping duty impact China’s EA industry? What is the trend of the price of EA before and after the antidumping? At present, in what fields are EA consumed in China? What is the future trend of EA price? You can also figure out the breakdown of drivers and barriers of China's EA industry, as well as forecast on EA development in China in 2009~2013.