Market Trends of Acetylene Industry
The Metalworking Industry is Expected to Dominate the Market
- Acetylene is chiefly used for oxyacetylene cutting, heat treating, and welding. Bulk acetylene is also used as a raw material in the chemical processing industry to produce organic compounds, including acetaldehyde, acetic acid, and acetic anhydride.
- Due to its triple-bond structure, acetylene has the highest flame temperature. Acetylene achieves a flame temperature of 3090°C (5594°F), releasing 54.8 kJ/liter of energy when it undergoes combustion with oxygen. This highest flame temperature allows acetylene usage in metalworking applications like cutting, welding, soldering, and brazing.
- The above mentioned applications of acetylene are used in many end-user industries like automotive, aerospace, metal fabrication, pharmaceuticals, glass, and others.
- According to the World Steel Association, global steel demand contracted by 2.3% year-on-year in 2022. However, it is expected to recover by 1% in 2023. Inflation, US monetary tightening, China's slowdown, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine all had an adverse impact on the industry, and high energy prices, rising interest rates, and waning confidence caused demand forecasts to be lower, which caused a slowdown in the steel manufacturing sector.
- Furthermore, according to the World Steel Association, global steel production in January 2023 stood at 145.3 million metric tons, a decline of 3.3% annually. Africa produced 1.2 million metric tons in January 2023, down 4.9% annually. Asia and Oceania produced 107.5 million metric tons, down 0.2%. The EU (27) produced 10.3 million tons, down 15.2%. The Middle East produced 3.8 million metric tons, up 19.7%. North America produced 9.1 million metric tons, down 5.6%. Russia and the rest of the CIS plus Ukraine produced 6.5 million metric tons, down 24.9%. Meanwhile, South America produced 3.6 million metric tons, down 0.6% during the same period.
- Moreover, according to the International Aluminum Association, in 2022, total global primary aluminum production amounted to 68.461 million metric tons, compared to 67.092 million metric tons in 2021. In addition, North American aluminum demand grew by 4.8% in 2022.
- The United States is the world's fifth-largest copper producer, with 48 million tons of copper reserves. Moreover, according to the US Geological Survey, in 2022, the United States produced some 1.3 million metric tons of copper from mines.
- With growing metalworking applications, the market for acetylene is projected to increase over the forecast period.
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The Asia-Pacific Region is Expected to Dominate the Market
- The Asia-Pacific region dominated the global market share. With growing transportation activities in countries like China and Japan, the use of acetylene (metalworking) is increasing in the region.
- Acetylene is also used to produce many essential chemicals, such as vinyl chloride monomer, acrylonitrile, vinyl acetate, vinyl ether, acetaldehyde, 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,4-butynediol, acrylate esters, polyacetylene, and polydiacetylene. Asia-Pacific has the most significant market for the chemical industry, which shows enormous scope for the acetylene market.
- China is a hub for chemical processing, accounting for most of the chemical production globally. With the growing global demand for various chemicals, the demand for intermediates, such as acetic acid, from this sector is expected to increase significantly during the forecast period.
- The government of China is also focusing on developing eco-friendly means of producing steel. According to the guidance on promoting high-quality development of the iron and steel industry issued by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology at the end of 2021, the proportion of EAF steel output was to be increased to more than 15-20% of total crude steel output, while the scrap usage ratio will reach 30% over the coming years.
- According to the US Geological Survey, China generated 1.9 million metric tons of copper from mines in 2022. This result shows a slight reduction from the previous year. Moreover, there are many operating copper mines in the country. For instance, the Jiama Mine is a surface and underground mine in Tibet owned by China Gold International Resources. In 2021, the mine was expected to produce 86.4 thousand tons of copper. The mine will likely be in operation by 2050 and be the key driver for the growth of the construction sector in China.
- According to the Indian government report, steel exports in the country in 2022 registered a fall of around 44% and reached 10.37 MT in 2022 compared to 18.5 MT a year ago. Similarly, at 4.77 MT, the imports were 21% higher in 2022 than at 3.94 MT in 2021. India's finished steel consumption is anticipated to increase to 230 MT by 2030-31 from 86.3 MT in FY22. Thus, increased crude steel production over the coming period is likely to increase demand for the acetylene market in the country.
- With the growth of various industries in the region, the market for acetylene is likely to surge over the forecast period.
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