For a long time, the demand for glycerol in China’s market is very strong, but domestic glycerol can not meet the market demand, and a large number of imports are needed every year to fill the gap.
At present, glycerol is distributed in the main consumption areas of our country: alkyd resin accounts for about 50%, medicinal and cosmetic accounts for about 17%, and tobacco accounts for about 7%. The main areas of consumption in the United States are: medicines and cosmetics account for about 40%, tobacco accounts for about 15%, and food accounts for about 15%. The global average is: medicinal and cosmetics accounted for about 37%, alkyd resin accounted for about 13%, food accounted for about 12%.
In the 20 years from the 1980s to the early 21st century, the annual output of glycerol in China has been hovering around 30,000 tons, which is not commensurate with the rapid economic development. In recent years, although glycerol production has increased, the overall increase is not large. On the other hand, because of the increasing demand for glycerol in the domestic market, the import of glycerol is increasing year by year, and the degree of dependence on foreign countries is increasing. In 2005, China imported 79.3 million tons of glycerol, and in 2006, imported 97.2 million tons of glycerol. In recent years, imports of glycerol have been increasing. In 2014, China imported 164,000 tons of glycerol with an import value of US$123 million. In 2015, it broke through the 200,000 tons barrier, reaching 215,000 tons, an annual growth rate of 31.1% over the previous year, nearly three times that of 2005, with imports amounting to $128 million.
The main sources of glycerol import in China are Asia, especially in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, etc. Among them, Malaysia and Indonesia are the main importers of glycerol in China. In 2013, China imported the most glycerol from Malaysia, accounting for 48.0% of the total imports, and 40.9% of the total imports from Indonesia. The amount of glycerol imported from these two countries accounted for 88.8% of China’s total imports.
At the same time, China also has a small amount of glycerol export, but compared with the import volume, it seems insignificant. In 2015, China exported only 4316 tons of glycerol, with a trade deficit of 210,000 tons. Exports amounted to $3.32 million, with a trade deficit of $125 million.
According to the analysis, in the next few years, China will continue to import large quantities of glycerol to meet the domestic market demand, which will be difficult to change in the short term.
For a long time, glycerol produced in China mainly comes from by-products of oil chemical industry. Fatty acids (soaps) or fatty acid esters are obtained by hydrolysis or alcoholysis of oils and fats, accompanied by about one tenth of glycerol, which is the main source of glycerol. Fatty acid or soap from oil hydrolysis is an ancient industry, and China’s soap industry has a history of more than 100 years. However, due to China’s large population, oil resources are insufficient. For a long time, oil chemical raw materials are mostly oil legs (acidified oil) produced during oil processing, animal fats produced by meat processing plants, waste cooking oil (sewer oil), and some non-edible oils (castor oil, etc.). Therefore, the overall scale is small and the technology is backward.
