China's modified polypropylene production and consumption both grow, low-altitude economy expected to become new growth engine

Preface:

As the largest category in China’s modified plastics market, modified polypropylene has developed an application landscape led by the home appliance sector, with coordinated growth across multiple fields including automotive, electrical and electronics, and office equipment. Home appliances have consolidated the fundamental demand base for modified polypropylene, while automotive lightweighting and the rapid development of new energy vehicles continue to unlock incremental market opportunities. From 2021 to 2025, both the output and consumption of modified polypropylene increased, with manufacturers mainly concentrated in East China and North China. As a representative strategic emerging industry, the low-altitude economy is entering a period of vigorous growth and is expected to open up new growth opportunities for the modified polypropylene industry.

1. The downstream application pattern of modified polypropylene has formed a leading position in the home appliance sector, with collaborative development across multiple fields such as automotive.

According to the “In-Depth Analysis of the Current Status and Investment Prospects of China’s Modified Polypropylene Industry (2026–2033)” released by Guanyan Report Network, modified polypropylene (PP) is a material based on polypropylene resin that is processed through filling, blending, reinforcement, and other methods to improve its mechanical properties, flame retardancy, weather resistance, heat resistance, and other characteristics. It is also the largest category in China’s modified plastics market, ranking first in 2025 with a production share of over 25%.

Data Source: Public information, organized by Guanyan Tianxia.

Modified polypropylene has excellent processability, low density, high cost-effectiveness, good mechanical properties, outstanding heat resistance, and easy recyclability. It is widely used in various fields such as home appliances, automotive, electronics, office equipment, and medical devices. Currently, in China, the downstream applications of modified polypropylene have formed a leading position in the home appliance sector, with a collaborative development pattern across multiple fields including automotive, electronics, and office equipment. According to data from 2025, the home appliance sector accounts for nearly 30%, making it the largest downstream application market for modified polypropylene, followed closely by the automotive sector, which accounts for approximately 25%.

Source: Public information, compiled and organized by Guanyan Tianxia

2. Home appliances strengthen the foundation of demand, while automotive lightweighting empowers the development of modified polypropylene industry.

Modified polypropylene, with its excellent overall performance and outstanding cost-effectiveness, has become an important raw material for exterior and structural components in home appliances, and is widely used in various products such as refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, televisions, and small household appliances. China has a vast scale of home appliance production and sales. From 2021 to 2025, although the retail sales of the full range of home appliance categories (excluding 3C products) fluctuated due to factors such as the downturn in the real estate market, the overall market size remained above RMB 800 billion, providing sustained and significant application opportunities for modified polypropylene.

Source: AVC; compiled and organized by Guanyan Tianxia.

In recent years, the continued growth in automobile production and sales, the deepening trend of lightweight transformation in the industry, and the rapid development of new energy vehicles have created strong demand momentum for the modified polypropylene industry. Driven by the ongoing advancement of the “dual carbon” strategic goals and the rapid growth of the new energy vehicle sector, automotive lightweighting has become an important trend in the development of the automotive industry. “Replacing steel with plastic” is a key approach to achieving this goal, bringing significant development opportunities to the modified polypropylene industry. As the trend toward automotive lightweighting intensifies, modified polypropylene, with its advantages of low density, high cost-effectiveness, strong processability, excellent mechanical properties, and superior heat resistance, has seen expanding applications in automobiles, now widely used in interior parts, exterior parts, structural components, and body parts. In recent years, China’s automobile production and sales have continued to rise, and demand for modified polypropylene has also kept expanding.

Source: Public information, compiled and organized by Guanyan Tianxia

In the field of new energy vehicles, in addition to conventional components, modified polypropylene is also widely used in battery pack housings, brackets, and other applications. Meanwhile, modified polypropylene is likewise widely applied in supporting facilities such as charging pile housings and charging gun bodies. The rapid growth in production and sales of new energy vehicles, coupled with the demand for charging infrastructure construction, has further expanded the market space for the modified polypropylene industry.

Source: Public information, compiled and organized by Guanyan Tianxia

It is worth noting that in the automotive modified plastics system, modified polypropylene ranks as the largest product category, accounting for approximately 46% of the market share in 2024, making it the most widely used type of modified plastic in automobiles. Compared with developed countries such as Germany, the usage rate of modified plastics per passenger vehicle in China remains relatively low. Modified plastics represented by modified polypropylene still have significant application potential in the automotive sector. Driven by multiple factors such as the release of demand for automotive lightweighting and advances in material modification technologies, the application scope of modified polypropylene in the automotive field will be further expanded.

Data Source: Public Information, Organized by Guanyan Tianxia

The consumption of modified polypropylene continues to grow.

In recent years, the demand for modified polypropylene in China has continued to grow, with consumption rising from 8.88 million tons in 2021 to 11.22 million tons in 2025, representing an average annual compound growth rate of approximately 6.02%. This growth can be attributed to several factors: first, the stable foundation of the home appliance market provides solid demand support; second, the continuous increase in automotive production and sales, the deepening of industry lightweight transformation, and the rapid development of new energy vehicles are contributing to incremental demand; third, modified polypropylene, with its high cost-performance ratio, strong processing capabilities, and excellent overall performance, continues to see growing application demand in fields such as electronics, office equipment, and medical devices.

Data source: Public information, organized by Guanyan Tianxia.

4. Modified polypropylene enterprises are significantly clustered by region, with output increasing year by year.

At present, domestic modified polypropylene manufacturers are highly regionally clustered, with a notable concentration in East China and North China. In 2024, these regions accounted for more than 65% of the total number of manufacturers. Among them, East China stands out with particularly strong industrial cluster advantages, accounting for over 40% of manufacturers, thanks to its well-developed industrial chain, advantages in raw materials and downstream supporting industries, and convenient logistics conditions.

Data source: Public information, compiled by Guanyan Tianxia.

As enterprises continue to increase R&D investment and actively expand production capacity, China’s modified polypropylene output has continued to grow, surpassing 11 million tons in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of approximately 6.29% from 2021 to 2025.

Data source: Public information, compiled by ChinaIRN.

Low-altitude economy empowerment is expected to open new growth opportunities in the modified polypropylene industry.

As a representative of strategic emerging industries, the low-altitude economy is ushering in rapid development and is expected to open up new growth opportunities for the modified polypropylene industry.

From 2024 to 2026, the low-altitude economy was included in the Government Work Report for three consecutive years, with its industrial positioning being progressively elevated from a “new growth engine” and an “emerging industry” to an “emerging pillar industry.” The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China, released in March 2026, explicitly calls for promoting the healthy and orderly development of the low-altitude economy and includes low-altitude equipment among 109 major engineering projects. It calls for accelerating the development of new low-altitude equipment such as heavy-payload fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles and long-range vertical take-off and landing aircraft, making breakthroughs in key technologies including intelligent flight, electric propulsion, and hybrid power systems, and strengthening research, development, and application of technologies and products for low-altitude operation management and low-cost drone safety prevention and control.

Low-altitude equipment such as drones, electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOLs), and traditional fixed-wing aircraft has strong demand for materials that are lightweight, corrosion-resistant, and flame-retardant. Modified polypropylene, with its low density, high cost-effectiveness, good mechanical properties, excellent heat resistance, strong corrosion resistance, and flame-retardant characteristics, is well suited to the manufacturing needs of low-altitude equipment. In addition to low-altitude equipment, modified polypropylene can also be used in ground supporting facilities, operation and maintenance infrastructure, and other fields, further broadening its application scope. Driven by factors such as policy support under the 15th Five-Year Plan, technological breakthroughs, and the expansion of application scenarios, China’s low-altitude economy is expected to accelerate its industrialization process, and its market size will continue to expand, bringing strong emerging demand to the modified polypropylene industry and further enlarging its market space. Data show that China’s low-altitude economy exceeded RMB 500 billion in market size in 2023 and is expected to reach RMB 2 trillion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of more than 20%.