Assessing the demand and supply of carbon black is exceptionally important

We clearly see that once imbalances in supply and demand arise in carbon black, they will create highly competitive market conditions in separate markets, especially for markets that are in oversupply, such as South Korea in the past 10 years and recently in India. Obviously: This imbalance makes it even more difficult for the carbon black industry to win the profits necessary for future investments.

In addition to China, the situation in the rest of Asia has been observed: in those places, supply seems to be growing at a faster rate than supply in 2009 and 2010. However, it is even more difficult to assess what will happen in China. As the largest market in Asia and even in the world, China’s imbalance in supply and demand will undoubtedly have a considerable impact on the rest of Asia. People are concerned about whether the pace of growth in China's carbon black demand will start to slow in the next three years. If the investment in new production capacity continues to increase rapidly based on the historical situation in recent years, it will cause the oversupply of carbon black in China. Obviously, this will not only have a devastating effect on the carbon black industry in China but also on the carbon black industry in the rest of Asia.