Mitsui Chemicals ‘mitigating’ downturn in demand for solar-cell elastomers

Tokyo – Mitsui Chemicals is developing new markets – both end-use and regional – for its polyolefin elastomer (POE) materials to compensate for a decline in sales in China.

In particular, demand for its Tafmer POE as a solar cell encapsulant has been impacted by increasing prices for the polymer and competition from established EVA materials.

Chinese companies have a high share of production of solar panels, Mitsui Chemicals president & CEO Osamu Hashimoto noted in Q&A summary from a recent presentation.

“In the stagnating Chinese market, however, there is a shift back to EVA as a solar cell encapsulant in some cases due to cost,” said Hashimoto.

As a result, sales of Tafmer have not grown as fast as initially anticipated,” according to the Japanese group’s leader – while emphasising that the POE offers superior performance over EVA.

However, Hashimoto said expansion into growth-market regions and diversification of applications is mitigating the impact of the downturn in the Chinese market.

POE sales, he said, are growing in regions outside of China, as well as in other applications including additive-manufacture, automotive materials and high performance packaging.

In automotive materials, for instance, Hashimoto said “we expect Tafmer to grow in applications involving improvements in driving range and modification of recycled materials.”

Regarding packaging materials, Mitsui Chemicals expects to sales of the POE to benefit from increasing demand for mono-material solutions, particularly in Europe.

“However, we expect it will be in the latter half of fiscal 2025 when the effects of these initiatives expand, and we will be able to enter the next phase of growth,” Hashimoto concluded

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