Bio-based Material China Quarterly Report

Welcome to the Bio-based Material Quarterly Newsletter Q4 2023

Policy

In Q4, China issues the Three-year Action Plan for Promoting the Development of "Replacing Plastics with Bamboo" and passed the Non-Degradable Single-Use Plastics Prohibition and Restriction Regulation of Henan Province to step up implementation of plastic ban. MIIT released the Directory for Guiding the Exemplary Application of the First Batch of Key New Materials (2024) including key performance indices for 6 bio-based materials. The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council launched the Tariff Adjustment Plan for 2024 suggesting tariff on PLA imports to resume to 6.5% of most-favoured-nation rate, effective as of 1 Jan., 2024.

Market dynamics & company performance

Kingfa, Hisun Biomaterials and eSun reported growths in both revenue and profit in Q1–Q3 as sales of biodegradable materials grew.

In the polylactic acid (PLA) manufacturing, BBCA Group's Futerro PLA's 100,000 t/a PLA project and Zhuhai Kingfa's 30,000 t/a PLA project completed construction, Langjing New Material's 1,000 t/a PLA product pilot line project passed trail run, Jiangsu Jinghong's 5,000 t/a lactide line completed commissioning, and Jinan Jufukai's PLA and PLA copolymer R&D lab relocation project was pending for approval.

In addition, two bio-based nylon projects of Youxian Technology and Heilongjiang Eppen, and three bamboo fibre projects of Shanying Huazhong, Guangxi Desen and Jiangxi Huazhu were posted with latest progresses. BBCA Group had one 3,000 t/a succinic acid plan and a reapplied 100,000 t/a bio-based polyol project publicised. Sichuan Siliya's high-end cellulose fibre material project (phase I) was accepted. Lishui Guosheng's expansion project for 600 t/a HMF, 400 t/a FDCA and 5 t/a PEF was disclosed with environmental impact assessment information.

Yinguang Group worked out its first one-tonne-scale manufacturing of bio-based PDI of 99.5%+ purity. POLY Materials raised RMB200 million to build new production lines for carbon dioxide polyol. Shanghai Sipeng Technology and Angel Yeast announced to form JV to step up cooperation. Jingshan City Government signed up to build 300,000 t/a bio-based degradable materials project.

Price

In Q4, PLA prices fell slightly, while PHA prices have stood stable.

The USD/CNY exchange rate in this newsletter is USD1.00=CNY7.1104 on 1 Dec., 2023, sourced from the People's Bank of China. Unless otherwise specified, all the prices mentioned in this newsletter will include the VAT.