Carbon fiber market will shift to emerging Asian markets

Recently, the Boeing series of aircraft manufactured using Japan Toray's carbon fiber technology materials will formally start sailing in Japan this autumn. In the future, carbon fiber technology will play an important role in high-end technology fields such as aerospace, wind power generation, and environmental protection automobiles.

Carbon fiber is internationally known as the "third generation material", because the composite material made of carbon fiber has a very high strength, and ultra-light, high temperature and high pressure, widely used in aviation, automotive and defense fields.

After the financial crisis in 2008, the demand for global carbon fiber materials decreased by 10% year-on-year, but it gradually increased from 2010 and increased by 15% year-on-year to approximately 30,000 tons, and is expected to increase by 15%-20% annually in the future.

In the second half of this year, Mitsubishi Rayon Japan started to start a large-scale production line with an annual output of 2,700 tons, mainly producing carbon fiber composite materials for wind power generation equipment. Germany, which has announced its abandonment of nuclear power, will become an important customer, and Mitsubishi has added related business units in Germany. Preparing for the ever-increasing demand in advance; Toray has set up a carbon fiber material plant in Korea in June this year, and plans to start production next year. At the same time, it has secured an area equal to eight Tokyo Gymnasium sites to prepare for future capital increase and production expansion. .

According to analysis by related parties, carbon fiber materials will be widely used in aviation and environmental fields in the future, and major markets will also be transferred from advanced countries to emerging Asian countries.