The report pointed out that in recent years, China's melamine production has maintained a strong growth momentum due to the great demand in the domestic downstream industries and the international market. As of January 2011, there are 42 major melamine producers in China, with a total production capacity of 1.2 million tons, with an output of approximately 65 million tons in 2010.
Most of the large domestic melamine producers produce both urea and melamine at the same time. Now melamine production is mainly distributed in Shandong, Sichuan, Henan, Shanxi, Hebei, because these places have abundant coal and natural gas resources. From 2008 to 2009, due to the impact of the global financial crisis, the production of melamine grew slowly. However, under the strong policy support of the Chinese government and the stimulus of the global economic recovery, China's melamine production has resumed in 2010.
The report statistics show: China is the world's largest supplier of melamine. Due to the lower price advantage, more than 20% of the annual output of melamine is exported. At the same time, the annual import volume of melamine dropped sharply, from 22,130 tons in 2006 to 1,497 tons in 2010.
The report pointed out that melamine price fluctuations are greatly affected by raw materials, such as coal or natural gas. In late 2009, under the support of rising raw material prices, the price of melamine climbed rapidly and reached the highest point of US$1,875/ton in October 2010.
Research shows that in China, melamine is mainly used in the laminate industry, coatings, papermaking, textiles and leather, molding compounds, etc. The laminate industry is the largest consumption area of melamine. In 2010, consumption accounted for 52.50% of the total consumption, followed by coatings. In the next few years, the growth rate of these traditional industries will slow down, which will reduce the growth in demand for melamine. At present, melamine consumption is mainly distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Fujian. These provinces are the centers of most manufacturers of rubber laminate, coatings, paper, textiles and leather, and molding compounds.
West American Information Researcher Su Yanjun said: At present, the domestic production capacity of melamine has been severely surplus, while the development of overseas markets and traditional domestic downstream consumption areas is limited. Therefore, it is necessary to open up some emerging consumer areas, such as melamine fiber and melamine foam.