The global carbon fiber market grew 14% last year to 93,300 tons, according to estimates from Toray of Japan, the world's leading producer of PAN-based carbon fiber. Shipments picked up in the second half of the year, despite the outbreak of a new crown disease in 2020, and the full-year figure was 81,600 tons, up 3% from 2019. While the new crown cast a long shadow by reducing demand in the aerospace sector, the global market was supported by industrial applications, where demand began to pick up in the second half of last year.
The most notable growth was in carbon fiber for wind turbine blades, where demand rose from 26,000 tons in 2019 to 43,000 tons last year. As wind farms expand, carbon fiber is being used in components such as sparcaps, wing beam caps that prevent blades from buckling under their own weight.
While industrial applications typically account for 60-70% of carbon fiber use, this figure will rise to 80% by 2021. And while these applications also include use in pressure vessels, construction, composites, racing and luxury automobiles, the share of wind energy applications has grown significantly.
According to statistics, the global new wind power capacity will be about 88GW in 2021, half of which will come from the Chinese market. Typically, the material used for wind turbine blades is glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP), and carbon fiber has been mainly used in Western countries.
However, initiatives to use carbon fiber in Asia will subsequently escalate as Western wind farms build factories in China, resulting in the country becoming the largest source of carbon fiber demand globally.
It is generally estimated that 1 ton of carbon fiber is needed to make enough wind turbine blades to produce 1 MW of power, which means that one of the world's largest 15 MW class turbines would require 5 tons for each of the turbine's three blades.
China is planning to significantly increase its domestic production capacity as tensions between the U.S. and China escalate and carbon fiber exports are expected to be increasingly regulated. To maintain their largest market share, Japanese manufacturers have kept pace with market changes and leading technology trends. But if manufacturers from China's huge market are able to capture the lion's share, they will take market share from their Japanese rivals.
