Weekly Industry News on Polycarbonate Sheets

This week (April 9–15), the polycarbonate (PC) sheet market remained strong, with China’s domestic average spot price rising to 18,132.7 CNY/ton, up over 1.3% week-on-week. Driven by raw material cost support and recovering downstream demand, the industry shows a trend of rising prices, tight supply, and technological upgrading, with high-performance and multi-functional sheets becoming the mainstream.

Polycarbonate sheets are widely favored for their core properties: high light transmittance, strong impact resistance, weather resistance, flame retardancy, and light weight. With light transmittance up to 88%, close to glass; impact strength 250 times that of ordinary glass, and only half the weight, they greatly reduce load-bearing and installation costs in construction and transportation. Hollow PC sheets offer excellent thermal insulation, with a thermal conductivity as low as 2.3 W/(m·K). Equipped with double-sided UV coating, they ensure stable performance for over 15 years, meeting demands for green buildings and energy conservation.

In terms of industrial development, the global capacity structure is accelerating adjustment. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical announced it will shut down its 120,000-ton PC plant in Kashima, Japan by 2028, promoting the industry’s shift toward high-value-added products. Domestic enterprises have achieved major technological breakthroughs: the self-sufficiency rate of non-phosgene PC resin has reached 58%. Multi-layer co-extrusion, UV enhancement, flame-retardant and self-cleaning functional sheets have been industrialized, with growing penetration in BIPV, new energy vehicle lightweighting and other fields.

Driven by carbon neutrality goals and high-end manufacturing upgrading, China’s PC sheet market is expected to exceed 22 billion CNY by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of over 10%. The industry will focus on green, intelligent and customized upgrading; recycled PC sheets and smart dimming panels will become new growth engines, promoting high-quality industrial development.