In 2025, China's ethyl acetate exports achieved a landmark breakthrough. Driven by the dual impetus of continuous capacity release and price advantages, the export scale hit a record high, successfully expanding its overseas market reach and taking a solid step forward in the internationalization of the industry. Building on this solid foundation, China's ethyl acetate exports will bid farewell to the high-growth expansion period in 2026 and officially enter a new stage of high-quality mature development, with profound adjustments to the industry's development logic and competitive pattern expected.

From the perspective of the industry's development foundation, China's domestic ethyl acetate capacity will remain abundant in 2026, providing a stable supply support for export trade. In the past few years, through capacity optimization and layout adjustment, the industry has formed a large-scale and intensive production pattern, with continuous improvement in production efficiency and product quality. This advantage will continue to serve as the core confidence for China's ethyl acetate to participate in global market competition and support the steady progress of export trade.

In terms of market development rhythm, affected by the uncertainty of the global macroeconomic environment, the growth rate of China's ethyl acetate exports will tend to be moderate in 2026. The complexity and volatility of the global economic recovery process may restrict the demand of overseas downstream markets to a certain extent, making export growth no longer show the previous explosive momentum, but instead enter a stable development cycle. The focus of the industry's development will shift from "scale expansion" to "quality improvement".

The industry's competitive pattern will undergo significant changes, with the core of competition gradually moving away from simple price advantage competition to multi-dimensional comprehensive competition such as supply chain stability and comprehensive service capabilities. As global chemical industry competition becomes increasingly fierce, the development model relying solely on price advantages is no longer sustainable. Domestic related enterprises will accelerate transformation, focus on supply chain coordination optimization, customer service upgrading, product structure improvement and other aspects, and consolidate overseas market share by enhancing comprehensive competitiveness, so as to promote the high-quality development of the industry.

In terms of overseas market layout, traditional advantageous markets will continue to play a supporting role, while the potential of emerging markets is expected to be further released. The surrounding Asian markets, which have long dominated exports, will continue to have demand for imported ethyl acetate due to their relatively weak local chemical industry foundation. With geographical proximity and industrial advantages, China will continue to maintain stable supply relations. At the same time, with the steady development of manufacturing industry in some emerging overseas markets, the demand for ethyl acetate in downstream related industries is continuously rising, which is expected to become a new bright spot for export growth in the future. However, it should be noted that some major importing countries have begun to introduce relevant trade control measures, and the risk of trade barriers cannot be ignored. All industry participants need to make advance arrangements and actively respond to avoid export risks.

In terms of trade methods, general trade will still occupy an absolute dominant position and become the core channel for China's ethyl acetate exports. After years of development, the general trade model has formed a mature operation system, which can efficiently connect domestic production with overseas demand. This pattern will remain stable in the future, with only a very small amount of other trade methods as supplements, and the overall trade structure will continue to be optimized.

In general, China's ethyl acetate exports will achieve stable development on a high base in 2026. Although the growth rate will tend to be moderate, the important position of exports as the core driving force for resolving the supply-demand contradiction in the domestic industry and promoting the sustained and healthy development of the industry will not change. As the industry gradually enters the mature period, all industrial parties will respond to various market challenges through transformation and upgrading, layout optimization and competitiveness improvement, promote China's ethyl acetate exports to move forward steadily on the path of high-quality development, and continuously consolidate China's core position in the global ethyl acetate market.