Global Polybutene-1 Market Forecast and Trends: Total Revenue is Expected to Hit $396.15 Million by 2029

Global Polybutene-1Market Overview

According to Global Market Monitor, the global polybutene-1 market size is $358.09 million in 2024 and is expected to grow to $396.15 million by 2029.

Difficult Implementation of Polymerization Technology

Although polybutene achieved industrial production as early as 1964, due to the difficulty in implementing its polymerization technology and limited raw materials, it has limited the industrialized large-scale production of polybutene. Propylene has also developed rapidly. For a long time, only LyondellBasell in the world could produce polybutene products. At present, the company is still the world's largest manufacturer of polybutene. Mitsui Chemicals is the second-largest polybutene manufacturer in the world, with a capacity of approximately 17,000 tons. The polybutene material supplied is a natural colorant, and a special color masterbatch needs to be added for use. In 2009, South Korean Ylem Technology Co., Ltd. also successfully built and put into operation an 8,000-ton polybutene production line with independent intellectual property rights. In the same year, the company was acquired by South Korean Aikang Company. Become the third company capable of producing polybutene.

China's Polybutene-1 Industry Started Relatively Late.

Global polybutene-1 consumption is mainly concentrated in Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea and other developed countries, China's polybutene-1 industry started late, subject to technical restrictions, high dependence on high-end products import. In 2022, China's first set of "3,000 tons/year high standard polybutene-1 industrial demonstration device" was put into operation in Sinopec Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Branch, and produced nearly 100 tons of qualified products. The success of polybutene-1 industrial demonstration technology marks another major technological breakthrough for Sinopec in the field of high-end synthetic new materials, making Sinopec the world's fourth and the first domestic leader with continuous and stable production of polybutene-1 products, breaking the monopoly of foreign countries.

Due to its good heat dissipation, high temperature, and pressure resistance, PB is easy to bend and easy to lay. It has many advantages. Polybutene pipes are commonly used for laying floor heating in many high-end communities in Europe and America. However, in some countries, because they do not produce raw materials and lack production technology, most of them can only rely on imports, so the price of PB is higher than that of PE and PP. In China, PB is known as "soft gold in plastics". Except for some engineering projects that require relatively high corrosiveness, thermal creep resistance, or environmental protection, PE, PP, or PPR materials are mostly used.

S	Downstream demand grows steadily The value of PB is high, and the benefits it brought are acknowledged by experts.
W	High market concentration Weakness Limited supply of raw materials restricts the market size
O	Increased environmental awareness of middle class in developing countries may lead to new markets
T	Threat from substitutes like PPR,PE, and other materials.