A few days ago, Dawn Polymer spent nearly 600 million yuan to acquire 80% equity and related patent technologies of Ningbo SK Synthetic Rubber Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Ningbo SK"), which was a major news story in the petrochemical industry at the end of the year. This move marks Dawn Polymer's official entry into the ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber field, making it the first private enterprise in China to use vanadium-based solution polymerization technology to produce EPDM rubber.

Let's start with some background information. EPDM is a copolymer of ethylene and propylene as the main monomers, with a non-conjugated diene introduced as the third monomer. It is an important category of ethylene-propylene rubber. Thanks to its excellent chemical stability, corrosion resistance, and weather resistance, this material is widely used in automobile manufacturing, green building materials, high-end equipment, medical equipment, and other fields.

For a long time, EPDM production has been hampered by high upstream technological barriers, becoming a major bottleneck restricting the development of related industries in China. Currently, there are only 20 EPDM manufacturers globally. And previously only two were state-owned enterprises that were purely domestically produced. According to industry insiders, "Based on last year's data, Ningbo SK held approximately 12% of the domestic EPDM market share, making it a medium-sized supplier positioned in the mid-to-high-end market."

The aforementioned industry insider stated that EPDM had numerous grades with significant performance differences. Ningbo SK initiated construction of a 50,000-ton-per-year EPDM production line in 2012, which was completed and put into operation in 2015, employing advanced patented polymerization technology. This project is included in the category of encouraged new materials by the National Development and Reform Commission and is a key project for the upgrading of the regional petrochemical industry, possessing unique technological advantages compared to other domestic producers.

As a major domestic production base for polymer composite materials, Dawn Polymer focuses on the research, development, production, sales and service of high-performance thermoplastic elastomers (TPV), modified plastics, masterbatches, biodegradable materials and copolyester materials. It strives to build high-end innovation platforms such as dynamic vulcanization, esterification synthesis, hydrogenation reaction and plasticization modification. The application scenarios of EPDM and TPV are highly compatible.

By focusing on seven high-ends and solidifying four cores, Dawn Polymer has incorporated EPDM into its elastomer family, adding heat- and oil-resistant specialty elastomers and enriching its synthetic rubber product range, successfully entering this niche market with high technological barriers and a favorable competitive landscape. It is understood that Ningbo SK possesses mature production capabilities, technological reserves, and customer resources in the EPDM field. In the future, Dawn Polymer will enhance its comprehensive competitiveness and industry influence in the polymer materials field through all-round synergy across products, technology, markets, and supply chains, and inject strong momentum into the high-quality development of Chinese polymer materials industry.