In 2012, the global production capacity of formaldehyde surpassed the 46.4 million tones mark. In the same year, the Asian-Pacific region held a share of 56% of the world’s total formaldehyde capacity. It was followed by Europe and North America, accounting for 22% and 15.83% shares, respectively. China was an unrivalled leader in terms of formaldehyde capacity, accounting for over 51% of the total capacity.
Formaldehyde: structure of the world capacity broken down by region, 2012
Momentive Specialty Chemicals, Dynea, Perstorp, Georgia-Pacific Corp, Celanese, Ercros S.A, Kingboard Chemical Co, DB Western Inc, BASF AG, Sadepan Chimica, Metafrax, Yunnan Yuntianhua Co, Tomskneftekhim and Nantong Jiangtian Chemical Co are among the top companies operating in the world formaldehyde market.
As of 2012, the global formaldehyde production registered a 4.7% YoY increase and almost reached 40.9 million tonnes. In the same year, the global capacity utilization rates stood at 88% (in average). Asia-Pacific was the largest regional producer of formaldehyde, accounting for around 55% of the world’s total formaldehyde production volume. China ranked first in the world in terms of formaldehyde production volume, holding a 50% share of the global output. It was followed by the USA, Russia and Germany, accounting for 14.47%, 6.68% and 5.12% shares, respectively.
Formaldehyde: structure of the world production broken down by country, 2012
During 2010-2012, the world formaldehyde consumption was following an upward trend, and in 2012 it exceeded 40.8 million tonnes. In 2012, the Asian-Pacific region consumed as much formaldehyde as Europe, North America and Latin America together. Meantime, the share of other regions was slightly over 3%.
In 2012, the production of urea- and phenol-formaldehyde resins was the major application area of formaldehyde, accounting for over half of the world’s total formaldehyde consumption.
The unfavorable economic climate in the mature markets is expected to have a negative influence on the worldwide formaldehyde production; though, the latter is poised to witness positive growth in the years ahead, increasing annually by around 5%. In 2017, the global formaldehyde production is anticipated to exceed 52 million tonnes.
More information on the formaldehyde market can be found in the study “Formaldehyde: 2014 World Market Outlook and Forecast up to 2018”.