1. Market scale continues to expand, and emerging fields become growth poles
The global silicone softener market is experiencing structural growth, and the compound growth rate is expected to remain in the range of 8%-10% from 2025 to 2030, and the market size is expected to exceed RMB 12 billion in 2030. The traditional textile field still occupies a dominant position, but the demand growth rate in emerging fields such as new energy vehicle interiors, medical textiles, and electronic packaging materials is significant. For example, the demand for high temperature resistant (above 180°C) and low fogging products in new energy vehicle interiors has increased by an average of 21% per year, while the demand for biocompatible silicone softeners in the medical field has formed a market segment with an annual output value of more than 1.5 billion yuan.

Regional market differentiation has intensified. With the perfect textile industry chain and daily chemical industry cluster, East China and South China contribute more than 60% of the national output. Southeast Asian countries have become new export growth points due to the transfer of textile industry. In 2024, China's exports of silicone softeners to Vietnam surged by 40% year-on-year, and it is expected to maintain an average annual growth rate of more than 15% from 2025 to 2027.

2. Technological innovation leads industrial upgrading, and environmental protection and functionalization become the core direction
Environmentally friendly products are accelerating the replacement of traditional solvent-based products, and the proportion of water-based silicone oil will increase from 35% in 2023 to more than 50% in 2025. The penetration rate of bio-based silicone monomers has exceeded 12%. Driven by the EU REACH regulations, the premium space for degradable products remains at 25%-30%. In terms of technological breakthroughs, block copolymerization modification technology improves the high temperature resistance of products by 20% compared with imported products, and microemulsion technology reduces the particle size to less than 50 nanometers, and the application efficiency is increased by 40%.

The demand for functional composites has exploded, and the demand for products with antibacterial, flame retardant, antistatic and other properties has increased by 12.3%. For example, the application of nanosilver-modified silicone softeners in the field of maternal and infant textiles has increased by 300% in three years, and intelligent responsive softeners (such as temperature/pH trigger type) have entered the pilot stage and are expected to form large-scale sales in 2026.

3. Industry chain integration and policy dividend release, the concentration of leading enterprises has increased
The industry concentration has accelerated, and the market share of CR5 enterprises has increased from 45% in 2025 to 60% in 2030. Zhejiang Xin'an Chemical, Chuanhua Zhilian and other companies have reduced the proportion of raw material costs from 40% to 28% through vertical integration of metal silicon ore resources. At the same time, the DCS control system has achieved a stable CV value of emulsion particle size within 8%, and energy consumption has been reduced by 15%. At the policy level, driven by the "dual carbon" goal, environmentally friendly product standards have been fully upgraded, and the tightening of VOCs emission limits across the industry will be completed by 2026, forcing small and medium-sized enterprises to exit the market.

The investment direction focuses on three major areas: first, core technology breakthroughs such as hydrogenated silicone oil modification technology and microcapsule stabilization system development; second, localized production layout in the Southeast Asian market; third, innovation in smart home scenarios, such as automatic dispensing softener equipment equipped with IoT sensors. It is estimated that the annual growth rate of the related supporting product market will reach more than 20% by 2030.