Zinc oxide and its market analysis

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I. Product Overview 7kØíF¤™qJ‘bbs.cqvip.comÑGçûvt8bM) Zinc oxide is a fine powder that is white or slightly yellow in color; it disperses easily in rubber and latex. It serves as a reinforcing agent, activator, and vulcanizing agent for natural and synthetic rubbers, as well as a coloring agent and filler for white rubber compounds. Adding active zinc oxide to the rubber compound enables it to possess good wear resistance, tear resistance, and elasticity. It is used for coloring paints, inks, and varnished fabrics; as a printing resist in the dyeing industry; in the match industry to neutralize the acidity of casein glue and enhance its adhesive properties. In the pharmaceutical industry, it serves as a raw material for bandages. It is also used in the production of pigments such as zinc chromate, zinc acetate, zinc carbonate, and zinc chloride. It functions as a catalyst in the synthesis of methanol and as a desulfurizing agent in the production of ammonia. In glass and glaze manufacturing, fine-grained active zinc oxide (with a particle size of around 0.1 um) can be used as a light stabilizer for plastics such as polyolefins and polyvinyl chloride. Zinc oxide is also utilized in fields such as pressure-sensitive applications, photocatalysis, photoelectrodes, coatings, and color TV development. 7kØíF¤™qJ‘bbs.cqvip.comÑGçûvt8bM) Zinc oxide is used as a white pigment. Due to its excellent activation properties, activated zinc oxide is being used more and more widely in rubber products. For example, in V-belts, it can not only replace ordinary zinc oxide in equal amounts but also reduce the required amount by 1/2 to 1/3, thereby stabilizing various performance indicators of the rubber, preserving its vulcanization properties, and reducing production costs. Fine-grained zinc oxide can be used in pharmaceuticals. Due to zinc oxide’s strong ability to absorb ultraviolet rays, there is increasing interest in its use in cosmetics. For example, zinc oxide nanoparticles with particle sizes of 0.01–0.04 microns have been developed, and their ultraviolet absorption rate as well as transparency are superior to those of titanium dioxide nanoparticles that have been used until now. 7kØíF¤™qJ‘bbs.cqvip.comÑGçûvt8bM) Coatings made of transparent zinc oxide can effectively prevent the coating from changing color. In addition to being used in cosmetics, this zinc oxide can also be employed as a raw material for automobile paints, furniture and building materials, inks, and oils; it can also serve as an anti-aging agent for rubber and plastics. The transparent food packaging film developed recently involves coating transparent zinc oxide on polyethylene film, which not only enhances the UV resistance of the plastic film but also protects the quality of the food. With the development of high-tech, zinc oxide whisker materials used as reinforcing agents for metals and ceramics, materials for ceramic and plastic filtration membranes, gas sensing elements, electromagnetic shielding materials, and zinc oxide materials with a high specific surface area are being developed and utilized. 7kØíF¤™qJ‘bbs.cqvip.comÑGçûvt8bM) Zinc oxide can be classified by application into industrial-grade zinc oxide BAO01—05 (types I and II), photosensitive zinc oxide, zinc oxide used in varistors, zinc oxide used in color TV glass envelopes, medicinal zinc oxide, zinc oxide for use in feed, zinc oxide for use in coatings, and zinc oxide for use in rubber, among others. Nanozinc oxide products developed in recent years possess performance advantages that traditional zinc oxide products cannot match, bringing new applications to zinc oxide products and opening up broad market prospects. 7kØíF¤™qJ‘bbs.cqvip.comÑGçûvt8bM) II. Analysis of domestic and international markets 7kØíF¤™qJ‘bbs.cqvip.comÑGçûvt8bM) (I) International market 7kØíF¤™qJ‘bbs.cqvip.comÑGçûvt8bM) Zinc oxide production abroad is led by the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. These have a zinc oxide production capacity of around 640,000 tons. Currently, the main countries and regions for zinc oxide consumption abroad are the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. The total consumption of zinc oxide in the United States is around 210,000 tons, with the main industries that use it being rubber, coatings, adhesives, and other sectors. The total consumption of zinc oxide in Western Europe is around 280,000 tons. The main industries that consume it are rubber, coatings, adhesives, feed additives, and other industries. Japan’s total consumption of zinc oxide is around 90,000 tons, with its main applications being in rubber, coatings, adhesives, and other areas. The current total global consumption of zinc oxide is over 580,000 tons. Abroad, the production capacity of zinc oxide exceeds demand; mainly in Western Europe, the production capacity is high but the utilization rate is low. In the United States, the utilization rate is higher, while market demand remains stable. 7kØíF¤™qJ‘bbs.cqvip.comÑGçûvt8bM) 　　As the production and consumption of zinc oxide abroad have reached a mature stage, market demand remains stable with no new sources of growth in consumption; therefore, it is expected that future increases in market consumption will be slow, with an annual growth rate of around 2%. It is estimated that foreign consumption of zinc oxide will be around 620,000 tons by 2005. 7kØíF¤™qJ‘bbs.cqvip.comÑGçûvt8bM) (II) Domestic market 7kØíF¤™qJ‘bbs.cqvip.comÑGçûvt8bM) With the development of China’s industry, the demand for zinc oxide is increasing steadily. In recent years, production of zinc oxide in China has grown rapidly; according to surveys, China’s current production capacity for zinc oxide is 300,000 tons per year, with a production volume of 210,000 tons in the year 2000. Over 90% of zinc oxide production in our country is carried out using dry methods (indirect and direct methods), while wet methods account for less than 10%. In terms of industry distribution, zinc oxide production in China is primarily concentrated in the non-ferrous metallurgy sector, accounting for around 70% of the total domestic production. Enterprises in the chemical industry operate on a smaller scale and employ a variety of production processes; the direct method is commonly used in dry-process production, while wet-process production is also employed (by Zibo Jushuo Zinc Industry Co., Ltd.). In recent years, the production of township enterprises has grown rapidly, especially the production of warm-process active zinc oxide, which has seen swift development in recent times. The main domestic manufacturers of zinc oxide include Hunan Zhuzhou Smelting Plant, Shandong Zibo Jushuo Zinc Industry, Guangxi Liuzhou Zinc Products Factory, Hunan Changsha Zinc Factory, Huludao Zinc Industry Co., Ltd., the phosphate fertilizer factory in Yuncheng, Shanxi, Dahuahua Group Paint Factory, Jiangyin Hetang Chemical Factory No. 3, Jiangyin Zhenhua Chemical Factory, Jiangsu Hanjiang Chemical General Factory, Henan Luoyang Lantian Chemical Factory, and Hunan Changsha Zinc Factory, among others. The largest production capacity is 35,000 tons per year, while the smallest is 1,000 tons per year. 7kØíF¤™qJ‘bbs.cqvip.comÑGçûvt8bM) In our country, zinc oxide is primarily used in various industries such as rubber, paints, inks, pharmaceuticals, pigments, matches, pesticides, and the chemical industry. In recent years, the consumption of zinc oxide in our country has grown rapidly; the consumption volume was only 70,000 tons in 1994, rising to 120,000 tons in 1997 and further to 150,000 tons in 1999. 7kØíF¤™qJ‘bbs.cqvip.comÑGçûvt8bM) 7kØíF¤™qJ‘bbs.cqvip.comÑGçûvt8bM) Third, the zinc oxide market is currently experiencing fluctuations, but it is expected to rise again after the Spring Festival.