Since the trial run of the HDPE plant of Ningxia Baofeng III at the end of August 2023 and its launch in September, China has not seen any new PE startups for a year. However, in the fourth quarter of 2024, several PE plants are expected to be put into production.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, new PE production capacity in China is expected to reach around 4 million tons, including Sinopec/Ineos Tianjin, Inner Mongolia Baofeng Coal Based New Materials and Yulong Petrochemical, with each petrochemical plant anticipating an average of three production lines to be launched. Additionally, there is one plant from Wanhua Chemical II. Although these plants are initially expected to be launched in the fourth quarter, there is a possibility that some may be postponed until the first quarter of 2025. Also, it's worth noting that some petrochemical plants have more than just these lines and have plans for additional units to be launched in 2025-2026.