The EVOH industry is of high concentration. As of October 2016, there are 3 major manufacturers in the EVOH field, mainly located in the United States, Europe and China, and mainly concentrated in Kuraray, NIPPON GOHSEI and Chang Chun Group, took around 95% capacity market share in 2015. Kuraray is the leading manufacturer took 50% production share in 2015, followed by NIPPON GOHSEI 35% and Chang Chun Group 10%.

There are over 7 plants in operation, 2 of them are located in USA, 2 in Japan, 1 in Belgium, 1 in UK and 1 in Taiwan, China. The leading players like Kuraray, NIPPON GOHSEI expanded their capacity in recently years, making their leading position much more stable. And there is hardly any massive manufacturer in China mainland.

For the last five years, EVOH industry is growing at a 4.29% CAGR in the global production, and for capacity 5.45%.

North America took over a half market share in 2015 in the production, followed by Europe 25%, and Japan 12%.

In earlier 2014, Kuraray expanded its USA plant by 12 K MT to 47 K MT, and in 2015, NIPPON GOHSEI expanded its plant too by 15 K MT to 66 K MT, these two leading manufacturers’ leading position are much more stable through their expand.

In the coming years, there will still be new plant put into operation. Kuraray is going to expand another 11 K MT capacity in its USA plant which is due to operate in mid-2018. There might be new enters from China come into this industry in the coming years, and the expectation on production in 2021 will rise to 162 K MT.