my country’s COC/COP market demand relies on imports, and there is broad room for domestic substitution.

COC/COP is a new type of amorphous thermoplastic engineering plastic formed by the copolymerization of olefins and cyclic olefins or the monopolymerization of cyclic olefins. The cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) is formed by the copolymerization of olefins and cyclic olefin monomers; cyclic olefin polymerization Polymer (COP) is formed by the monopolymerization of cyclic olefin monomers. COC/COP is a new optical material with high transparency, low moisture absorption, low shrinkage, and excellent chemical resistance. It is widely used in electronics, energy, precision processing, packaging, medical and other fields.

The raw materials for COC/COP synthesis are mainly ethylene and norbornene, and the production process can be divided into ring-opening displacement polymerization (ROMP), metallocene-catalyzed addition polymerization (mCOC), etc. Among them, the ROMP process products have excellent optical properties, but the process is complicated and the cost is high; the mCOC process is simple and the production cost is low, but the optical properties of the products are insufficient.

Due to the difficulty of synthesizing cyclic olefin monomers and the complicated production process of COC/COP, only a few companies in the world can achieve large-scale mass production of COC/COP. Globally, Japan is the main supplier of COC/COP. Related production companies include Japan Zeon, Japan Mitsui, Japan Polytechnic, Japan Synthetic Rubber, etc. Among them, Japan Zeon is the leading company in the COC/COP field. In terms of technology, Japan’s Zeon and Japan’s synthetic rubber mostly use the ROMP process; Japan’s Polycarbonate and Japan’s Mitsui use the mCOC process.

According to the “2022-2026 China COC/COP Industry Application Market Demand and Development Opportunities Research Report released by the Industrial Research Center, Due to the complex production process and the small number of mass production companies, the global COC/COP industry is small in scale. The global production capacity in 2021 will be about 80,000 tons, of which Japan’s Zeon annual production capacity is about 40,000 tons.

At present, my country’s COC/COP industrialization process is slow and is still in its infancy. Due to technical limitations, domestic market demand relies heavily on imports. In 2021, my country’s COC/COP import volume will be approximately 20,000 tons. my country is the world’s main consumer market for COC/COP. With the development of my country’s optical, packaging, medical and other industries, COC/COP consumer demand continues to be released, and consumption is expected to reach 30,000 tons in 2026.

As an import-dependent material, the localization and supply stability of COC/COP have attracted much market attention. In recent years, with the support of national policies, my country’s COC/COP independent research and development capabilities have improved, and some companies have COC/COP production capabilities, such as Wuxi Akoli, currently Wuxi Akoli has completed the construction of 5,000 tons/year COC/COP project. As relevant projects under construction and proposed are put into production, my country’s COC/COP production scale will continue to expand, and the pace of domestic substitution will accelerate.

Industry analysts said that as a new optical material, COC/COP has excellent comprehensive properties and a wide range of applications. With the downstream market With the development, the COC/COP market demand will continue to grow. However, due to the difficulty of production technology, global COC/COP production capacity is concentrated in Japan, and my country’s market demand relies heavily on imports. my country is the main consumer market for COC/COP. In recent years, with the active layout of relevant enterprises, the industrialization process of COC/COP has accelerated, and the development prospects of my country’s COC/COP market are promising in the future.