Since 2025, the butyl rubber market for insulating glass in North China has shown a structural growth trend under the dual effects of policy driving and industrial cooperation. Data shows that as the core markets of North China, the consumption of butyl rubber for insulating glass in Hebei and Henan provinces will reach 23000 tons in 2024, accounting for 62% of the total demand in the North China region of China. It is expected that the market size will exceed 380 million yuan by 2025, a year-on-year increase of 15.2%, becoming another important growth pole after East China.
Policy rigidity constraints have become the core driving force for market expansion. Due to the high heating energy consumption in winter, the upgrading pace of building energy efficiency standards in North China is leading the country. Beijing requires the use rate of LowE insulated glass in new residential buildings to reach 100%, and Hebei Province has included energy-saving renovation of existing buildings in the "14th Five Year Plan" livelihood project, with a planned renovation area of over 120 million square meters in three years. Driven by this, the demand for high-end butyl rubber in Hebei and Henan provinces has grown significantly. In 2024, the sales of two-component self vulcanizing butyl rubber increased by 18% year-on-year. This type of product has a sealing life of more than 25 years, and its penetration rate in commercial curtain wall projects in provincial capitals such as Shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou has reached 58%.
Regional industrial collaboration is solving the problem of supply-demand mismatch. In June 2025, the Hebei Ceramic Glass Industry Association and the Henan Construction Science and Technology Association jointly conducted a special investigation, focusing on local leading enterprises such as Henan Yufeng Sealing Materials Co., Ltd. Research data shows that the utilization rate of butyl rubber production capacity for insulating glass in North China remains at around 85%, but the self-sufficiency rate for high-end products is only 42%. In 2024, the proportion of imported halogenated butyl rubber will still reach 38%, mainly relying on brands such as Henkel in Germany and 3M in the United States. In response to this situation, industry associations in the two provinces have proposed to jointly build the "Yellow River Bohai Glass Industry Corridor" to enhance regional industrial competitiveness through measures such as mutual recognition of technical standards and supply chain integration.
Local enterprises accelerate high-end substitution through technological breakthroughs. Henan Yufeng, as a butyl rubber enterprise with a production capacity of over 10000 tons in North China, has established a three-level quality control system from raw material testing to complete product inspection. Its independently developed third-generation butyl rubber formula has a water vapor transmission rate of less than 0.18g/m ² · d, which is 30% higher than traditional products. The enterprise is promoting the "Smart Factory 2.0" project and plans to introduce 5G+industrial Internet technology, aiming to increase the automation rate to 85% by 2027, and develop new products with self-healing functions. In Hebei, enterprises such as Tangshan Jindun and Xingtai Kerui have achieved mass production of photovoltaic specific butyl rubber through industry university research cooperation. Their products have been certified by the Beijing Tianjin Hebei High Value Added Glass Product Mutual Recognition Agreement and entered the supply chain construction of Xiong'an New Area.
The localization process of raw materials alleviates cost pressure. Butyl rubber enterprises in North China have long faced the problem of dependence on imported raw materials such as polyisobutene, with raw material costs accounting for 65% in 2023. With the release of high-performance polyisobutene production capacity from Shandong Qilu Petrochemical and Tianjin Petrochemical, the self-sufficiency rate of raw materials in North China will increase to 68% by 2024, driving the regional product profit margin to stabilize in the range of 29% to 35%. Ren Mengmeng, the sales director of Henan Yufeng, revealed that the localization of raw materials has made the prices of high-end products of enterprises 12% to 18% lower than those of imported similar products, significantly enhancing their competitiveness in municipal engineering bidding.
Expanding application scenarios opens up new growth opportunities. In addition to the traditional construction field, the photovoltaic and old renovation markets have become new growth points: in 2024, the consumption of butyl rubber for photovoltaic module packaging in North China exceeded 15000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 62%. Companies such as Longi and Jinko have adopted local enterprise products in their photovoltaic bases in Zhangjiakou and Datong; There is a strong demand in the field of building renovation, and the 2024 old window replacement project in Zhengzhou alone will consume 2300 tons of butyl rubber, driving a 12% increase in sales of single component butyl rubber.
Industry experts point out that the butyl rubber market for hollow glass in North China is currently in a critical period of quality upgrading. With the deepening of industrial synergy between Hebei and Henan provinces, it is expected that by 2027, the proportion of regional high-end product production capacity will increase to 55%, and the self-sufficiency rate will exceed 60%. Future competition will focus on three major directions: research and development of green production technology, and the pilot project of water-based butyl rubber has been launched in Hebei; Intelligent production transformation, promoting the product yield rate to move towards 99%; Adapt to cross-border scenarios and develop BIPV integrated specialized sealing solutions. Driven by both policy and market factors, North China is expected to become a demonstration area for high-quality development of the national butyl rubber industry.
