As the main destination for China's silicone exports, the Asian market is diversified and multi-level. South Korea has maintained its position as China's largest exporter of silicone for many years, accounting for 18.1% in 2024. South Korea's demand for silicone is mainly concentrated in the electronics industry and automobile manufacturing, with high requirements for product quality and stability. The silicone products exported by China to South Korea are mainly functional products such as electronic packaging glue and thermal conductive materials, forming an industrial chain with South Korea's local electronics giants such as Samsung and LG. The Indian market is dominated by demand for bulk products such as building sealants and textile auxiliaries, with high price sensitivity. Chinese products occupy an important market share with their cost-effective advantages.
Although the North American market faces trade barriers, it still maintains stable demand. The United States is the third largest export destination for Chinese silicone, accounting for 7.4% in 2024. The US market has a strong demand for high-end silicone products such as medical silicone rubber and electronic-grade silicone oil, but due to technical standards and access restrictions, Chinese products are mainly concentrated in the mid-end market. It is worth noting that in recent years, the United States has launched anti-dumping investigations on Chinese silicone products many times, levied high tariffs, and caused certain obstacles to trade flows. In order to circumvent trade barriers, some Chinese companies choose to re-export through third countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia, or set up production bases overseas. This "curved export" strategy has maintained the scale of exports to the United States to a certain extent.


The demand in the European market is stable but the entry barriers are high. EU countries have extremely strict environmental and safety standards for silicone products. The REACH regulation has put forward a series of complex requirements for the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals. This has led to a high threshold for Chinese silicone products to enter the European market. The current export volume is relatively limited, mainly concentrated in some basic products such as building sealants and industrial silicone rubber. However, with the improvement of Chinese product quality and the advancement of environmental protection technology, it is expected that exports to Europe will have room for growth in 2025, especially in Eastern Europe and Southern Europe, which are more price-sensitive.


Emerging markets have become a new engine for export growth. Emerging economies such as Turkey, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, and Russia have rapidly grown their demand for Chinese silicone products. The local silicone industry in these countries is weak, while downstream industries such as construction, textiles, and electronic assembly are developing rapidly, creating a large amount of import demand. Especially in countries along the "Belt and Road", the boom in infrastructure investment has led to a surge in demand for silicone sealants and waterproof materials for construction. Chinese products dominate these markets with their cost-effectiveness and geographical convenience. In 2024, Turkey and Vietnam accounted for 5.3% and 5.0% of China's silicone exports, respectively, and their growth rates are higher than the average.


Table: Analysis of China's main silicone export markets in 2024


Country/Region Export share (%) Main demand areas Product characteristics Growth potential
South Korea 18.1 Electronics, automobiles Mainly functional products, high quality requirements Stable growth
India 12.6 Construction, textiles Bulk products, price sensitive Rapid expansion
United States 7.4 Electronics, medical Mid-to-high-end products, many trade barriers Stable or slightly declining
Turkey 5.3 Construction, industry Mainly mid-to-low-end products Faster growth
Vietnam 5.0 Electronic assembly, textiles Mid-range products, many processing trade Rapid growth
Others 51.6 Diversification Diversification Obvious differentiation

International competitiveness analysis
Cost advantage is the core pillar of China's silicone export competitiveness. Compared with European and American enterprises, Chinese organic silicon production enterprises have obvious comprehensive cost advantages, which are mainly reflected in three aspects: first, the raw material supporting facilities are complete, and leading enterprises such as Hesheng Silicon Industry have realized the layout of the entire industrial chain from metal silicon to organic silicon monomers, and the raw material self-sufficiency rate has reached more than 80%; second, the energy cost is low, and enterprises in major production areas such as Xinjiang use the local abundant coal resources to build their own power plants, and the electricity cost is only 60-70% of that in the eastern region; third, the labor and manufacturing costs are low, and the labor cost of Chinese organic silicon production is about 1/3 to 1/2 of that of European and American enterprises. This all-round cost advantage makes Chinese organic silicon products have significant price competitiveness in the international market.