China to lead global VAM capacity additions through 2030

China is poised to significantly expand its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) production capacity by 2030, owing to its immense demand from the construction and automotive sectors. Accounting for 57% of the expected capacity additions worldwide by 2030, the country is expected to be the dominant player in the global VAM production, according to GlobalData, the data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s latest report, Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) Industry Outlook by Capacity and Capital Expenditure Forecasts with Details of All Active and Planned Plants to 2030, shows that China is likely to witness total VAM capacity additions of 1.59 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) during 2025−30 from four planned projects and three announced projects.

Nivedita Roy, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “VAM is a versatile intermediate used in the production of polyvinyl acetate (PVA) and several copolymers such as ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), which in turn find applications in adhesives, paints, coatings, etc. VAM demand in China is supported by its strong domestic production capacity, often leveraging on abundant and cost-effective domestic coal feedstock, which in turn is encouraging significant capacity additions.”

In China, all the three upcoming announced projects are located in the Nanjing city of the Jiangsu province. Two of these projects are being proposed in the “Celanese Corporation Nanjing Complex” and are expected to add capacities of 0.06mtpa and 0.03mtpa. Celanese (Nanjing) Chemical Co Ltd is the operator of these two projects that are expected to come online in 2029 and 2030.

Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical Co Ltd is the operator of the remaining announced project that is anticipated to begin operations in 2029 with a capacity of 0.30mtpa.

The four planned projects in China are located across in different provinces – Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, and Fujian. Guangxi Huayi Energy and Chemical, Inner Mongolia Zhuozheng Coal, Shiyou Chemical (Yangzhou), and Fujian Sinopec Aramco Refining and Petrochemical are planning these projects, which are expected to start operations in 2026, 2028, 2029 and 2030, respectively, each with a capacity of 0.30 mtpa. The project proposed by Shiyou Chemical (Yangzhou) has received approval, while the rest three projects are under construction.