Encapsulant Material

Encapsulant material is one of the important components of solar panel production. It is used with lamination between the cell and the glass. LG Chemical, Exxon Mobil Chemical, Dow Chemical, Mitsui Chemical, Sabic Sk Nexlene and Borealis are important poe raw material producers. After Eva, which was used as an encapsulant material, Poe and more recently Epe started to come to the fore. The main raw material of these materials is oil. Therefore, although there are other factors, the course of oil has a great impact on the market conditions of the encapsulant material.
In the chart below, you can see the relationship between encapsulant material prices and oil prices. (Poe unit prices are hidden)

With the decrease in demand created by the pandemic, OPEC decided to reduce production gradually. Demand started to recover as the impact of the Covid epidemic on world trade began to wane. In July, OPEC started to increase its oil production gradually and tried to meet the increasing demand and maintain the price balance. However, oil prices continue to rise throughout 2021. The war tension between Russia and Ukraine, which is on the agenda, creates an upward pressure on oil prices, despite efforts to balance demand. The latest report of the International Energy Agency (IEA) pointed out that oil markets are tight. In the January Petroleum Market Report of the IEA, it was stated that the global oil demand is expected to reach approximately 100 million 600 thousand barrels in 2022, with an increase of 3 million 227 thousand barrels per day compared to the previous year.
Below you can see the one-year change chart of brent oil.

Factors such as the conflict between Russia, Iran and the wings of the USA and Saudi Arabia, the dollar index, developing and supported renewable energy sources, economic policies, the war that changed the supply-demand balance, and the epidemic will also have an impact on oil prices this year. It will be necessary to monitor the prices of encapsulant materials, which are under the pressure of rising oil prices, over these effects throughout the year. In the current situation, we can predict that there will be no easing in poe/eva/epe prices before the end of the year.