Chemical Product Methanol
Methanol has become the second petrochemical product with a capacity of more than 100 million tons
Recently, the 2023 China Methanol Industry Conference was held in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. According to the statistics of China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association, China's methanol production capacity will reach 100.41 million tons/year in 2022, surpassing the 100 million tons mark. A list of China's top 20 methanol producers in 2022 was released at the same time, with State Energy Investment Group Co., LTD., Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum (Group) Co., LTD., and Shandong Energy Group Co., Ltd. ranking the top three.
In 2022, the global political economy is complicated, the energy situation is increasingly severe, the domestic raw material cost is high and the downward pressure of the market coexists, and the methanol industry in China has overcome the difficulties, forged ahead and achieved successful development.
At the cost end, coal is the main raw material for methanol production, and the price of coal has been high since the second half of 2021. Take bituminous coal as an example. According to the statistics of China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association, the average factory arrival price of bituminous coal in 2022 is 1373 yuan/ton, which rises by 20% on the basis of the high price in 2021, much higher than that of methanol. Methanol profit "upside down" intensified, losses further expanded, some coal methanol production enterprises because of the cost pressure forced to stop production, reduce production or transfer production.
Gu Zongqin, president of China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association, pointed out that methanol has become the second petrochemical product with a capacity of more than 100 million tons in China, in addition to oil refining.
