China PX capacity development overview

Over the past two decades, China's PX industry has achieved a significant development-from being dependent on imports and constrained by others to becoming a global leader.

During the past 20 years, the industry has not only filled some domestic supply-demand gap and overcome raw material bottlenecks, but also completed the transformation from a technology follower to a global leader in both production capacity and technology. It has now become a core cornerstone supporting the development of downstream industries such as textiles and new materials.

Since the middle of 2023, the expansion of China PX capacity has been suspended. After three years, a new round of domestic PX capacity expansion is set to arrive in 2026, which will inevitably have a new impact on the industry.

This article will analyze the status of PX capacity.

From the perspective of capacity development, China's PX capacity accounted for 20% of the global total in 2010, but by 2025, this proportion had risen to 50%, securing a dominant position in the global market.

Over the past 15 years, China's PX capacity has grown at an average annual rate of approximately 13%, showing an overall phased growth trend. The concentrated commissioning of new plants by private enterprises such as Rongsheng, Hengli, and Shenghong between 2019 and 2022 drove the fast growth, with an average annual growth rate as high as 26% during that period.

Subsequently, China entered a slowdown period for capacity growth. During this period, some old and outdated production units were shut down and gradually phased out, accounting for about 1.2% of the total capacity.

Outside China, when global PX production capacity is divided by region, it is clear that Asia remains the major area for PX capacity. West Asia including countries in the Middle East, and other East Asian countries together account for 40% of the world's total PX capacity.

PX capacity in Europe and the United States is relatively small. Additionally, their production units have been in operation for a long time, with relatively small capacity per unit and higher operating costs compared to Asian PX facilities. Moreover, as local PTA units are gradually phased out, this part of PX is also flowing to other regions.

In China, from the perspective of the regional capacity distribution, East China accounts for 62% of the total. The strong supporting system of the polyester industrial chain has led to the concentration of domestic PX capacity in East China, where the polyester industry is highly developed.

In other words, over the past decade, polyester enterprises have continuously extended their industrial chain upstream. This reverse expansion, from polyester to feedstock PX, has promoted the regional concentration of PX production. Additionally, factors such as imported raw materials and the maritime logistics of PX have also driven the establishment of PX facilities around coastal regions.

In interior regions, the PX capacity in Southwest and Northwest China is also for regional supporting purposes. In fact, it facilities the internal supply for most of the time. The proportion of this part of capacity is relatively small, accounting for 4% of the total.

From the perspective of vertical integration, PX capacity integrated with PTA and polyester has risen to account for 63% of total in China, reflecting the high integration rate.

Currently, enterprises selling PX are mainly dominated by CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC, as well as some private enterprises. They account for 33% of the market share and serve as the main suppliers of Chinese yuan-denominated PX resources.

It should be noted that the above classification is primarily based on capacity. At the business operation level, enterprises will also adjust their allocation strategies-either for self-use or external sales-according to different market conditions.