Current Status of the Methyl Methacrylate Market and Prospects for Its Industrial Development

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Abstract: This paper analyzes the domestic and international market demand for methyl methacrylate as well as its development trends, introduces the planned and expanded projects for methyl methacrylate in China, and highlights several issues that should be avoided in the development of this industry. 　　Keywords: Methyl methacrylate, market research, market demand analysis, market competition. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a homopolymer or copolymer of methyl methacrylate (MMA); it is commonly known as plexiglass. In countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan, it is referred to as Acrylics. Acrylic is a highly transparent thermoplastic material with an amorphous structure; it has a light transmittance of 90%–92% and a refractive index of 1.49, making it the thermoplastic with the best light-transmitting properties. Acrylic glass possesses excellent mechanical properties, impact resistance, weather resistance, corrosion resistance, and electrical insulation. It is suitable for secondary processing methods such as machining, thermoplastic molding, blow molding, vacuum forming, solvent bonding, thermal printing, and screen printing. Its products are widely used in fields such as national defense and military industry, construction, transportation, advertising and decoration, education and healthcare, instrumentation, and daily necessities. 　　1 World Market 1.1 Current Supply and Demand Situation In 2007, the world’s MMA production capacity was 3.416 million tons per year, with a production volume of around 3.045 million tons; the operating rate of these facilities was 89%. MMA production is concentrated in over 20 factories located in three developed regions: the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. The combined production capacity of these factories amounts to approximately 2.28 million tons per year, accounting for 70% of the world’s total production capacity. In other parts of the world, most of the existing and under-construction large-scale MMA production facilities are also joint ventures, subsidiaries, or licensed producers of companies from Europe, the United States, and Japan. 　　The production of world MMA relies mainly on the propylene cyanohydrin method, accounting for about 80% of the total capacity. The rest are mostly produced using the isobutylene method. The MMA production facilities in the United States and Western Europe mainly use the propylene cyanohydrin method, whereas MMA production in Japan primarily uses the isobutylene method. In addition, some newly built plants in East Asia and Southeast Asia have also adopted Japan’s direct oxidation of isobutylene technology. 　　According to the latest statistics from foreign research institutions, as of the first half of 2008, the global total MMA production capacity had risen to 3.635 million tons per year. Production capacities in the United States, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and Central and South America showed little change. The main growth occurred in the Asia-Pacific region, where production capacity had increased to 1.77 million tons per year. 　　British company Lucite International (formerly Ineos Acrylies) is the world’s largest producer of MMA, with production facilities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Taiwan, China; its total capacity accounts for 21.7% of the world’s total capacity. The American company Rohm and Haas is the world’s second-largest MMA producer, and its 360,000 t/year production facility in Texas is the largest MMA facility in the world. Other major MMA manufacturers around the world include Germany’s Degussa, France’s Total, Japan’s Mitsubishi Rayon, Sumitomo, and Asahi Ka** Chemical Industry, among others. The major MMA manufacturers in the world in 2007 are listed in Table 1. 　　In recent years, the new MMA production capacity added globally has been concentrated in Asia. In 2005, Shanghai Lucite Company put into operation MMA production facilities with a capacity of 90,000 tons per year and PMMA production facilities with a capacity of 60,000 tons per year in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Zone ； Singapore’s SMM Company expands capacity by 30,000 t/year ； The 70,000 t/a MMA plant of Huizhou Hui Ling Hua Cheng Co., Ltd. in China was completed and put into operation at the end of 2006 ； Thai MMA company adds 20,000 t/a ； The MMA plant of LGMMA in Ulsan, South Korea, has an additional production capacity of 80,000 t/year. Between 2005 and 2007, Asia’s new production capacity totaled 290,000 t/year. 　　Abroad, MMA is primarily used in the production of acrylic resins and plastics (acrylic casting, extruded sheets, and molding compounds), accounting for 48.1% of total consumption in the United States, 58.8% in Western Europe, and 49.9% in Japan. Next are surface coatings, accounting for 22.5% in the United States and 24.4% in Western Europe respectively. In developed markets in Europe, the United States, and Japan, MMA is a product with a mature market; the continuous successful development of high-performance PMMA resins has injected new vitality into its market applications. 　　In 2007, the global consumption of MMA was approximately 3.042 million tons, with demand in Asia rising sharply to 1.455 million tons (including Japan). In the past two years, China’s MMA market has seen an average annual growth rate of 13%, and demand continues to increase. 　　PMMA, the main downstream product of MMA, possesses advantages such as optical transparency, weather resistance, electrical insulation, chemical resistance, impact resistance, light weight, and ease of molding. It is widely used in various fields including construction, automotive industry, lighting equipment, optical instruments, exhibition displays, as well as various industrial, household, and medical devices. Since plexiglass is widely used in industries such as construction and automotive, its development pace is greatly influenced by the growth rate of the overall national economy. 　　In recent years, thanks to the rapid development of the global information industry, computers and flat-screen TVs have increasingly adopted liquid crystal display (LCD) screens in place of traditional cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, resulting in a continuous increase in LCD consumption. It is expected that this growth rate will further accelerate in the coming years. PMMA molding compounds are the main raw materials for LCD panels, and the rapid increase in demand for LCDs has **spurred the development of PMMA sheets and pellets used in light guides. 　　The rapid increase in demand for electronic devices such as LCDs, as well as products for billboards, auto parts, and artificial marble in the Asia-Pacific region, has driven demand for MMA and PMMA; these materials have thus become key areas for investment in the region going forward. Major manufacturers around the world are very optimistic about the prospects of the MMA market in Asia, and they are planning to build new MMA facilities or expand existing ones there in order to earn high profits; as a result, MMA production in Asia is facing significant opportunities for growth. 　　When establishing new projects, European and American companies still tend to use the traditional propylene cyanohydrin process, while companies from Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan prefer the isobutylene process. Given the certain limitations in raw material supply for both of these processes, investors are more likely to enter through joint ventures or partnerships, that is, by finding local partners to build together. 　　1.2 Supply and demand forecasting Other regions in Asia, excluding Japan, will become the main areas for MMA production and consumption in the future, with most new facilities being located there. The next few years are expected to see rapid growth in MMA production capacity. As the annual consumption growth rate of MMA-based products in Asia remains in double digits, many companies plan to build new MMA production facilities or expand existing ones in Asia. It is estimated that the world’s MMA production capacity in 2011 will reach 4.207 million tons per year, an increase of 883,000 tons per year compared to 2006. Among other regions in Asia, production capacity will increase by 666,000 tons per year, bringing their total capacity to 1.55 million tons per year. Among other regions in Asia, the Chinese mainland, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand are the main areas where MMA production capacity is growing. 　　Between 2011 and 2016, the world’s MMA production capacity is expected to increase further to 4.926 million tons per year. MMA production will also begin in the Middle East; the 250,000 tons per year MMA plant built by Sipchem’s joint venture with Lucite in Jubail is scheduled to be completed in 2012. 　　It is expected that the global demand for MMA in the coming years will grow at a rate of around 5% per year. This growth rate exceeds that of GDP during the same period; the demand reached approximately 3.713 million tons in 2011, and rose to around 4.2 million tons by 2016. During the same period, demand for MMA markets in Asia grew even more rapidly, at an average annual rate of 8.4%. China’s MMA market is growing at an average annual rate of 9.4%, and it is set to become the world’s third-largest consumer market in the coming years, second only to the United States and Japan. The main drivers of growing demand for MMA in Asia will come from the LCD display, construction, and automotive sectors. 　　The LCD market, which represents the fastest-growing downstream sector for PMMA in the world, is expected to experience an average annual growth rate of 16.8% from 2006 to 2011, and an average annual growth rate of 7.1% from 2011 to 2016. This growth in demand is driven primarily by the expansion of the computer and flat-screen TV markets. 　　2 Domestic Market 2.1 Current Production Status In the early days in China, MMA was produced by pyrolyzing acrylic waste. In the late 1950s, one plant with a capacity of 1,000 t/year and another with a capacity of 6,000 t/year were built respectively at the Suzhou Anli Chemical Plant and the Shanghai Pen Manufacturing Chemical Plant; in both cases, the propylene cyanohydrin route was used for the production process. A number of small and medium-sized facilities were built in the 1970s. Starting in the late 1980s, technology was introduced from abroad to build large-scale MMA production facilities. Heilongjiang Andalong New Chemical Co., Ltd. and Fushun Organic Glass Factory acquired plants with capacities of 20,000 tons per year and 13,000 tons per year respectively from Italy’s Vedfil Company and the Czech Republic’s PLZ Company. 　　Following restructuring and upgrades, Jihua Company has become one of the leading MMA producers in China, with a production capacity of 128,000 tons per year. In April 2007, the 90,000 tons per year MMA production facility operated by Mitsubishi (Synthetics) Riyō Co., Ltd. was put into operation in the Huilin Chemicals plant located in the Daya Bay Petrochemical Industrial Zone in Huizhou, Guangdong – China’s largest investment project of its kind. This facility became the first MMA producer in China to use the isobutylene process. 　　In 2007, China’s MMA production capacity reached 358,000 tons per year, with a production volume of around 300,000 tons. The main MMA manufacturers in China are listed in Table 2. 　　In addition, there are over a hundred small enterprises in our country that produce MMA through the pyrolysis of organic glass, with an annual production volume of around 120,000 tons. These enterprises are mainly located in the East, South, and North China regions, with a particular concentration in provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong; they are mostly private or township-owned businesses. These manufacturing plants recycle acrylic products, scraps generated during the production of acrylic materials, trimmings, and waste materials, and use them in pyrolysis to produce lower-quality MMA products; the raw materials for this pyrolysis process come mainly from imports and recycled waste. 　　2.2 Projects planned for construction or expansion from 2008–2011 (1) Evonik (formerly Degussa). An investment of 250 million euros has been made to build an integrated facility for MMA and methacrylate fine chemicals in Caojing, Shanghai. The production capacity of the MMA and PMMA plants is 100,000 tons per year and 40,000 tons per year respectively, using the isobutylene process technology. **The National Development and Reform Commission approved the construction of this project in early April 2007. The project held its groundbreaking ceremony in September 2007, with operation scheduled for 2009. 　　(2) Shanghai Lucaitech Company. It is planned to expand its production capacity from 90,000 t/a to 115,000–150,000 t/a (to be determined based on the conditions of the upstream acrylonitrile plant). 　　(3) Jihua Company. As its acrylonitrile plant continues to be expanded, the by-product volume of hydrocyanic acid increases, which necessitates an expansion of the MMA plant downstream; the scale of this expansion will also be determined based on the expansion of the upstream acrylonitrile plant. 　　(4) Heilongjiang Zhongmeng Longxin Chemical Co., Ltd. The company is one of the major domestic manufacturers of acrylic glass, with an existing production capacity of 25,000 tons per year of MMA, and it plans to build a new facility with a capacity of 50,000 tons per year of MMA. 　　If these expansion and new construction projects are completed on schedule, the domestic MMA production capacity is expected to reach around 550,000 tons per year by 2011 (excluding the MMA production capacity derived from the pyrolysis of acrylic waste). 　　2.3 Import and Export The net import volume of MMA and PMMA molding compounds in China in recent years is shown in Table 3. 　　With the rapid growth of domestic production capacity and a significant increase in supply, China’s imports of MMA have started to decline since 2004, while exports have increased substantially. In 2007, the domestic import volume of MMA was 72,600 tons, while the import volume of PMMA reached 149,400 tons. In the Chinese mainland, MMA is mainly imported from countries and regions such as Japan, Germany, Taiwan Province of China, Thailand, South Korea, and Singapore, while PMMA is primarily imported from South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan Province of China. 　　In our country, the import of MMA and PMMA is concentrated in the coastal areas of East China and South China. Jiangsu and Guangdong are the largest regions for importing MMA and PMMA respectively, while Zhejiang, Shanghai, Fujian, and Shandong also have significant import volumes. From January to August 2008, China’s imports of MMA and PMMA were 61,900 tons and 121,900 tons respectively. 　　The main importers of MMA in our country are PMMA processing enterprises with foreign investment or private ownership in South and East China, such as Mitsubishi Rayon Polymer Materials (Nantong) Co., Ltd., Dongguan Lijia Plastics Co., Ltd., and Corian Acrylic (Zhangjiagang) Co., Ltd. 　　With the successive commissioning of large-scale projects such as Shanghai Lucaite and Huizhou Hui Ling Hua Cheng in Guangdong, China’s exports of MMA and PMMA have increased significantly in recent years. In 2007, China’s MMA export volume reached 56,500 tons, with the products mainly coming from Hui Ling Hua Cheng and Lu Cai Te companies ； The export volume of PMMA was 17,300 tons, with the products mainly coming from Mitsubishi (Synthetics) Riyang’s company in Nantong, Jiangsu. It is expected that as the Degussa project in Shanghai progresses and Luceite expands its production, China’s exports of MMA and PMMA will increase further. In 2007, China’s MMA-exporting enterprises included Lucaite International (China) Chemical Co., Ltd., Huizhou Hui Ling Chemical Co., Ltd., and Suzhou Sanyouli Chemical Co., Ltd., among others. 　　From January to August 2008, China’s exports of MMA and PMMA were 28,400 tons and 14,700 tons respectively. 　　2.4 Current Consumption Status and Demand Forecast Through years of application development, the field of MMA applications in China is continuing to expand. MMA has evolved from being in the 1970s a product that was almost exclusively processed into PMMA cast sheets through bulk polymerization, to being used in the production of non-resin-based products such as PVC impact modifiers like ACR and MBS, surface coatings, adhesives, textile sizing agents, medical polymers, leather additives, and various composite plastic alloys. Moreover, temperature-resistant, wear-resistant, antistatic, and high-impact PMMA materials have been developed, as well as PMMA materials in various forms such as large-sized, thick, hollow, or custom-shaped pieces, as well as PMMA core materials for optical fibers. 　　In 2007, China’s MMA production was around 300,000 tons (excluding the output from pyrolysis), with imports amounting to 72,600 tons. 2.4.1 PMMA molded plastics and sheets At present, MMA in China is primarily used in the acrylic industry, accounting for about 62% of the total consumption. In 2007, there were over 300 PMMA manufacturing enterprises in China (of which about 40 had an annual production capacity of over 1,000 tons), with a total production capacity of around 600,000 tons per year and output of approximately 320,000 tons (including materials reprocessed from pyrolysis); most of this product was in the form of PMMA cast sheets. The mold casting method is simple and requires less investment; therefore, many private and township enterprises use this method to produce PMMA cast plates. 　　PMMA is a material whose quality characteristics lie between those of relatively inexpensive resins such as PS and PVC, and expensive resins such as PC; its price is also in the middle range. PMMA has certain advantages in terms of light transmittance, weather resistance, and gloss. 　　Compared to other resin materials such as PS and PC, PMMA has strong competitiveness. The order of light transmittance for several plastics, from highest to lowest, is: PMMA > PS = PC ； The order of UV resistance from highest to lowest is: PMMA > PC > PS ； The order of chemical resistance from highest to lowest is: PMMA > PS > PC ； The impact strength, from highest to lowest, is: PC > PMMA > PS ； The prices, from highest to lowest, are: PC > PMMA > PS. 　　Since 2005, the production of optical-related products, IT products, and automobiles in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan Province of China has shifted in large scale to our country, resulting in a double-digit increase in domestic demand for high-quality PMMA. With the influx of large amounts of foreign investment, the production of high-quality PMMA molding compounds in China has developed rapidly; in 2005, Kuraray of Japan built a PMMA molding compound production facility with an annual capacity of 3,000 tons in Zhangjiagang ； Construction of a 40,000 t/a high-quality PMMA molding compound plant as a supporting facility for Huizhou Hui Ling Hua Cheng Company’s MMA project ； Taiwan’s ChiMei company is building a 50,000 t/year PMMA molding compound plant in Zhenjiang. 　　East China and South China are the main regions in China for the processing and consumption of plexiglass, accounting for about 80% of the national market demand. Regions such as southern Zhejiang centered on Wenzhou, Yangzhou in Jiangsu, the Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou area, Shanghai, Ningbo, as well as Foshan, Shunde, and Shantou in Guangdong have developed into manufacturing hubs for acrylic products, with a large number of state-owned and private acrylic processing enterprises operating there. 　　Although China’s PMMA consumption has seen significant growth in recent years, there is still much work to be done in terms of market development and promotion, and PMMA products still hold great market potential. Due to users’ limited understanding of the properties of PMMA, the domestic PMMA market has faced some competition from alternatives such as PS, PC, PVC, and ABS. 　　With the development of China’s national economy, the domestic market for bulk consumption of acrylic materials – such as advertising light boxes, signs, lighting fixtures, bathtubs, instruments, daily necessities, household appliances, and construction products – still holds great potential that remains to be tapped. Among them, markets for building lighting systems, bathtubs, street advertising light boxes, and payphone or magnetic card phone booths are growing rapidly, and experts generally believe that there is also significant potential for further development in the future. Compared with other resin materials such as PS, PC, and PVC, PMMA offers better light transmittance, weather resistance, and gloss. As regulations in various industries in China become increasingly stringent, PMMA is bound to demonstrate strong competitiveness in more application areas. 　　In the rapidly developing field of information technology products, domestic and foreign processing enterprises have introduced engineering plastic products made from PMMA and ABS blends. These blends retain the good processability and toughness of ABS, while also possessing the excellent weather resistance, surface hardness, and gloss of PMMA, thereby giving the PMMA/ABS alloys much better weather resistance, scratch resistance, and gloss compared to ABS alone. The product is widely used in the casings of various electrical appliances, electronic devices, and complex components where a sleek appearance is required, such as car TVs, CD cases, LCD TV casings, monitor casings, audio device housings, telephone and printer casings, copier components, MP3 cases, mobile phone covers, and charger casings. It enables a high-gloss finish, eliminates the need for spraying, and helps reduce costs. 　　In recent years, the use of PMMA has grown rapidly in East Asia and in the domestic production of information technology products. Abroad, PMMA is also widely used in the production of DVD discs and optical fibers, playing an important role in information recording, storage, and transmission. In the coming years, the development of the domestic IT industry will surely spur the growth of the PMMA industry. It is expected that in the coming years, the growth rate of the domestic plexiglass market will be around 11% per year, which is higher than the overall growth rate of China’s national economy. In 2011, domestic demand for MMA from plexiglass is expected to reach around 300,000 tons (excluding pyrolysis materials). 　　2.4.2 Coatings Overseas, MMA accounts for a large share of consumption in the surface coating industry, being used to produce solvent-based coatings, water-based coatings, and latex paints, which are widely applied in industries such as automobiles, furniture, and construction. In the past, China’s consumption of MMA in this field was low, at only around 100 tons per year. The main reasons for this were the limited variety of high-quality coatings available in China, as well as the high price of MMA, which resulted in a low proportion of MMA in coating formulations. With foreign multinational companies such as Nippon Paint in Japan, ICI in the UK, DuPont in the US, BASF in Germany, and AkzoNobel setting up wholly-owned or joint-venture coating factories in China, the production of high-end coatings and coatings with new formulations was introduced into the country, leading to a significant increase in the demand for MMA. At the same time, a number of township enterprises in coastal areas such as Guangdong also began to produce more acrylic coatings containing MMA. It is estimated that the consumption of MMA in the coating industry in 2007 was around 45,000 tons. Overall, the development level of acrylic coatings in our country is still not high, and large domestic coating manufacturers make limited use of MMA. According to the planned development of China’s coating industry, as people’s living standards improve, the proportion and production volume of high-end coatings are expected to increase rapidly. The process formulations will be gradually aligned with international standards. It is estimated that in 2011, China’s production of acrylic coatings will require more than 60,000 tons of MMA. 　　2.4.3 PVC modifiers ACR, MBS PVC is the world’s second-largest general-purpose resin after PE, with a wide range of applications and a close connection to the national economy and people’s livelihoods. When processed into rigid products, PVC has poor processability and impact resistance; however, the addition of modifiers such as ACR can help overcome these defects to some extent. ACR is primarily synthesized from MMA along with small amounts of acrylates and styrene; MMA accounts for about 50% of the composition of ACR. Different types of ACR can improve the processability and impact resistance of PVC to varying degrees. MBS is a terpolymer of MMA, butadiene, and styrene, and it has a significant effect on enhancing the stiffness, toughness, dimensional stability, processability, and color of PVC products; it is widely used in the production of transparent PVC products. The proportion of MMA in MBS is usually around 20%, while it is around 50% for transparent products. 　　Our country has become the world’s largest producer and consumer of PVC resin. As people’s living standards continue to improve, the demand for PVC products is rising rapidly, which in turn drives an increase in the demand for PVC modifiers. In recent years, China has seen strong demand and supply for PVC, with significant changes in the consumption pattern; the proportion of rigid products continues to rise, approaching 60%. In 2007, China’s PVC consumption exceeded 10 million tons, and the market size for various impact modifiers is quite large. Restricted by factors such as technology and raw materials, the production and development of PVC impact modifiers in China are relatively backward, which seriously hinders the growth of the plastics industry. In 2007, China’s usage of MMA for ACR and MBS was around 60,000 tons. 　　According to the development plans for PVC resin and PVC additives in our country, it is estimated that by 2011, the demand for MMA resulting from the production of ACR and MBS in China will reach 85,000 tons. 　　2.4.4 Other applications MMA is used as a second monomer in the acrylic fiber industry; currently, only Daqing Petrochemical Complex uses it among the acrylic fiber manufacturers in China. The second monomer used in the dry-process acrylic fiber production method is methyl acrylate; other acrylic fiber manufacturers that use the wet process also replace MMA with vinyl acetate as the second monomer due to the relatively high price of MMA. At present, the total acrylonitrile production capacity of Daqing Petrochemical Plant is 55,000 tons per year, with an annual consumption of MMA of around 5,000 tons. Although the production of acrylic fiber in our country is set to see significant growth in the future, it is estimated that few other manufacturers will use MMA as a second monomer for polymerization. Daqing Petrochemical Complex also has no plans to expand its acrylic fiber production at present; therefore, it is expected that consumption of MMA in this sector will remain at its current level, with no significant increase. 　　Other areas of consumption for MMA include textile sizing agents, acrylic adhesives, unsaturated polyester crosslinking agents, lubricants, and artificial marble countertops. In recent years, demand for artificial marble in both the domestic market and in Asia has been growing rapidly. 　　In 2007, the consumption of MMA in other fields was around 15,000 tons, and it is expected to rise above 25,000 tons by 2011; the main potential markets for growth are artificial marble countertops and acrylic adhesives. 　　In summary, according to predictions by relevant domestic agencies, the demand for MMA in China is expected to continue growing at a rate of around 10% in the coming years. By 2011, the demand for MMA in China is projected to reach 468,000 tons (excluding pyrolysis feedstock) ； The average annual demand growth rate during the period from 2011 to 2016 was around 7%, and in 2016 the domestic demand for MMA is expected to reach approximately 650,000 tons. 　　3 Analysis of Industrial Development Issues (1) Market analysis shows that MMA and PMMA molding compounds as well as sheet products enjoy rapid growth in demand in China, indicating broad market prospects for them. 　　(2) MMA and its downstream product PMMA are capital-intensive products that require significant investment, imposing high demands on a company’s financial strength. Both MMA and PMMA are technology-intensive products. PMMA molding compounds are traditional materials that have been upgraded through high-tech methods; to meet the demands of markets such as LCDs, more stringent patent requirements and formulation standards are necessary. If a company lacks the means for product development and invests insufficiently in research, it will find it difficult to create new formula products that meet market demands. 　　(3) The currently industrialized and operational MMA production technologies in the world mainly include the acetoncyanohydrin method (ACH method), the isobutylene method (including the traditional i-C4 method, the tert-butanol method, and the ASAHI method), the ethylene method (BASF method), and the improved acetoncyanohydrin method (MGC method). A reasonable economic scale for MMA production is above 40,000 tons per year. According to publicly available foreign data, the investment cost for medium-scale plants (40,000–60,000 t/year) using the isobutylene method is lower than that of the propiononitrile method, resulting in better economic benefits ； The advantages of the propyl cyanohydrin method will become apparent in larger-scale plants (100,000 t/a and above), where the capital investment per unit will decrease significantly, giving it strong competitiveness; however, this will be limited by the availability of hydrogen cyanide as a raw material. 　　(4) When constructing an MMA plant in our country, whether to choose the propylene cyanohydrin method or the isobutylene method depends on market conditions, taking into account the scale effects of the plant, in order to find the optimal balance among raw materials, market demand, and investment. When constructing MMA plants domestically using the propylene cyanohydrin method, they should be built simultaneously with acrylonitrile plants in order to reduce raw material costs, and a certain scale of production should also be achieved. 　　(5) The isobutylene method is mature and reliable; the raw materials, isobutylene or tert-butanol, are readily available. The production process is simple, the costs are low, giving it competitiveness, and it is widely used in East Asia and Southeast Asia. This technology has traditionally been held by Japanese and Korean companies, and most of them can transfer the technology directly. The Lanzhou Petrochemical Research Institute of CNPC in China has also claimed to have successfully developed, in collaboration with the Institute of Process Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a production process for manufacturing MMA through the comprehensive utilization of pyrolyzed C4 compounds, resulting in an innovative technology with independent intellectual property rights. Author profile: Cai Jie (born 1973), male, from Hunan Province ； Senior engineer, mainly engaged in consulting work related to chlor-alkali chemicals, synthetic materials, calcium carbide, and basic organic raw materials.