Diethylene glycol, referred to as DEG, is colorless or slightly yellow transparent viscous liquid, flammable, low toxicity, hygroscopicity, diethylene glycol can be miscible with water, alcohol, ether, acetone, glycol, insoluble in benzene, carbon tetrachloride. Diethylene glycol can be prepared by the reaction of ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol, and ethylene oxide reacts with water to prepare ethylene glycol production process, which can produce diethylene glycol by side. Diethylene glycol is an important organic raw material, mainly used in the production of polyester and antifreeze.
At present, diethylene glycol products are mainly used in the production of unsaturated resins, and the development of downstream industries has a greater impact on the diethylene glycol product market. Unsaturated resins are the fastest growing, most widely used and low-cost varieties of the three major types of thermosetting resins in China, but in recent years, affected by national policies, the development of the real estate market has slowed down, while large-scale infrastructure projects have reduced, affecting the demand for unsaturated resin products. In addition, the national chemical policy and the strict environmental security check have also reduced the operating rate of the unsaturated resin industry. Affected by many aspects, the downstream demand for diethylene glycol products is small. However, other downstream applications such as polyester have maintained a good development trend, and the demand for diethylene glycol products continues to grow.
At present, China’s import dependence on diethylene glycol products is high, but with the production capacity of Hengli Petrochemical, Zhejiang Petrochemical, Quanzhou Petrochemical, Zhongke Refining and chemical enterprises in recent years, China’s supply capacity of diethylene glycol will have significant growth, import dependence will be reduced.
In the second half of 2023, the supply side of diethylene glycol has limited support, the price or low consolidation, and the market needs to be boosted by demand. On the supply side, domestic large-scale equipment maintenance has basically ended in the first half of the year, the second half of the installation will be improved, but in view of the poor performance of ethylene glycol, the overall increase in construction is difficult to be too large, domestic supply is expected to increase, while with the recovery of foreign equipment, there is also a small increase in imports, so the port inventory in the second half of the year or slowly open the accumulation rhythm, The supply side gives the market support generally.
