ESO: Industry issues to be resolved and conservative operations

The overall performance of the ESO market in 2018 was unremarkable, and industry problems such as the lack of industry standards still existed.
While maintaining a certain profit margin, manufacturers focused on conservative operations.
It can be seen from Figure 1 that ESO production capacity is showing a downward trend, some ESO devices are gradually phased out, output fluctuates at low levels, and the industry's average operating load is not high.
In 2018, the domestic ESO production capacity was 840,600 tons, and the output is expected to be around 420,000 tons, with an average operating rate of 49.
96%.
The nature of its products and some problems in the industry limit the growth of ESO demand, and demand determines the supply, which leads to the continued low operating load of the industry.

In terms of physical properties, ESO is a light yellow viscous liquid with a pungent odor.
Compared with colorless plasticizers such as DOP, it has limited attractiveness to most customers.
In addition, the molecular weight of ESO is too large, making it suitable for soft products.
Can not completely replace DOP, DOTP, etc.
, but can only be partially replaced, because the compatibility of ESO and PVC is not as good as DOP (commonly known as "oiling"), which makes its application in the field of PVC soft products more restricted.
At the same time, ESO has a certain influence on the loss of electrical properties and flame retardant properties.
ESO cannot be used in large quantities in high flame retardant insulating materials, which also restricts the application of ESO system in high flame retardant insulating materials to a certain extent.

From the perspective of industry and market operation, epoxy value is the characteristic index of ESO.
The current market still lacks a unified industry standard.
There are also certain differences in the quality of ESO products with the same epoxy value among manufacturers, and the overall market is slightly confused.
In addition, although the current price difference between DOP and ESO has been enlarged, taking the South China market as an example, the highest price difference between DOP and ESO from January to October 2018 was 2700 yuan/ton, the lowest value was 550 yuan/ton, and the average price difference was 1346.
34 yuan/ Tons, an increase of 710.
23 yuan/ton from 636.
11 yuan/ton in the same period last year, but it is still at a medium level, and the end-user’s purchasing power for ESO is still relatively ordinary.
In 2018, the ESO market generally showed a trend of volatility and decline.
The average price of ESO epoxy value 6.
0 in South China was 7781.
77 yuan/ton, the lowest value was 7375 yuan/ton, the highest value was 8100 yuan/ton, and the high-low price difference was 725 yuan/ton.
Changes in raw material prices are a direct factor affecting ESO prices.
Manufacturers can flexibly adjust their offer prices according to cost changes while maintaining a certain profit margin.
The average gross profit from January to October was 791.
87 yuan/ton, with little change from the same period last year.In the short term, the ESO market mainly fluctuates within a narrow range from November to December, and downstream users just need to make inquiries.
The pre-holiday stocking market is expected to start in mid-to-late December.
It is recommended to pay close attention.
In the long run, the ESO industry still needs to develop due to the lack of performance and the unification of industry standards: striving for large-scale production, promoting the introduction of national unified standards, accelerating the development of epoxy soybean oil with high epoxy value, and further reducing Product color, improve product thermal stability, etc.

Source: Zhuo Chuang Chemical