According to Zhitong Finance APP, Debang Securities released a research report stating that, according to Baichuan Yingfu, due to the continuous growth in demand from the downstream PCB industry, prices for various domestic photoinitiators have risen. As of July 3, 2025, the reference ex-factory price for grade 907 is 88 yuan/kg, an increase of 2 yuan/kg from last month and 19 yuan/kg from the beginning of the year. The consumer electronics industry is expected to continue its recovery trend in 2025, which may provide strong support for the demand for photoinitiators and other photoresist specialty electronic chemicals. At the same time, consumer electronics are in an upward cycle driven by AI, and technological innovation will further stimulate market demand. As the world's largest PCB production base, accounting for nearly 60% of global output value, China is expected to enable domestic photoinitiator manufacturers to benefit first.
<h2>Debang Securities' main viewpoints are as follows:</h2>
Event: According to Baichuan Yingfu, due to the continuous growth in demand from the downstream PCB industry, prices for various domestic photoinitiators have risen. As of July 3, 2025, the reference ex-factory price for grade 907 is 88 yuan/kg, an increase of 2 yuan/kg from last month and 19 yuan/kg from the beginning of the year; the reference ex-factory price for grade 184 is 45 yuan/kg, unchanged from last month and up 11 yuan/kg from the beginning of the year; the reference ex-factory price for grade TPO is 83 yuan/kg, unchanged from last month and up 8 yuan/kg from the beginning of the year; the reference ex-factory price for grade ITX is 155 yuan/kg, unchanged from last month and up 22 yuan/kg from the beginning of the year; the reference ex-factory price for grade DETX is 85 yuan/kg, unchanged from last month and down 2 yuan/kg from the beginning of the year.
Demand Side: Key Materials for Light-Cured Systems, Recovery of Downstream PCB-Related Demand
Photoinitiators, as the core raw materials for light-cured materials, play a crucial role in the curing speed and degree of light-cured materials. They have been widely used in fields such as fiber coating, integrated circuit packaging, microelectronics processing, composite materials, industrial coatings, 3D printing, printing inks, artificial intelligence, and healthcare, with emerging applications continuously driving the demand for photoinitiators.
Review of the Important Downstream Consumer Electronics Market for Photoinitiators: In 2022, the global PCB total output value was 81.740 billion USD; in 2023, affected by weak demand, oversupply, destocking, and price pressure, the global PCB total output value decreased by 15.0% year-on-year to 69.517 billion USD; in 2024, global smartphone shipments are expected to reach 1.234 billion units, a year-on-year increase of 6.0%, and PC shipments are expected to be 262 million units, a year-on-year increase of 2.5%. Smartphone retail sales are recovering, and PC sales have stopped declining and are rebounding. Meanwhile, with panel manufacturers limiting production to maintain prices and the PCB industry benefiting from AI servers and related high-speed network infrastructure, the global PCB total output value is expected to reach 73.565 billion USD in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%.
Debang Securities believes that the consumer electronics industry is expected to continue its recovery trend in 2025, which may provide strong support for the demand for photoinitiators and other photoresist specialty electronic chemicals. At the same time, consumer electronics are in an upward cycle driven by AI, and technological innovation will further stimulate market demand. As the world's largest PCB production base, accounting for nearly 60% of global output value, China is expected to enable domestic photoinitiator manufacturers to benefit first
Supply Side: Industry Pattern Concentrating Towards Leading Players, Collaborative Market Trends May Emerge Naturally
Global photoinitiator production capacity is mainly concentrated in China, with several varieties produced solely in China. According to statistics from the Radiation Curing Professional Committee of the Chinese Society of Photochemistry, China has become the world's leading producer and exporter of photoinitiators. In 2023, China's exports of photopolymerization raw materials reached 125,300 tons, of which photoinitiators accounted for 25,400 tons, representing 13.21%.
Due to the multi-step organic chemical reactions involved in the production process of each type of photoinitiator, there are certain technical barriers, resulting in a relatively concentrated competitive landscape in China's photoinitiator industry. As market competition intensifies, industry capacity is continuously concentrating towards companies with scale advantages, cost advantages, and technological advantages. For example, IGM has successively acquired the ESACURE series photoinitiator business from Beijing Yingli and Italy's NNB, as well as the IRGACURE series photoinitiator business from Germany's BASF; domestically, Jiuri has acquired Changzhou Huatai, and TRONLY has acquired Changsha Xinyu.
According to Sihan Industrial Research Institute, in 2024, the domestic production capacities of leading photoinitiator companies in China, including Jiuri, Yangfan New Materials, Wokailong, IGM, TRONLY, and Guren Technology, are projected to be 23,000/17,000/13,000/12,000/10,000/5,000 tons, respectively. Among them, Jiuri and TRONLY still have ongoing construction capacities of 3,000/18,000 tons, while in 2024, Ningxia Wokailong has faced multiple administrative penalties for failing to meet safety production and environmental protection requirements and has been listed as a dishonest executor. As the industry's concentration continues to rise, underperforming companies may face elimination, allowing leading companies to become stronger, facilitating industry collaboration, and improving supply-side expectations.
Recommended Stocks
Jiuri (688199.SH), Yangfan New Materials (300637.SZ), TRONLY (300429.SZ), Guren Technology (835595.BJ).
Risk Warning
Downstream demand may fall short of expectations, raw material prices may fluctuate significantly, and industry competition may intensify

688199

300429

300637

Debon Securities released a research report stating that due to the continuous growth of demand in the downstream PCB industry, the prices of domestic photoinitiators have generally risen. The reference ex-factory price for grade 907 is 88 yuan/kg, an increase of 19 yuan since the beginning of the year. It is expected that the consumer electronics industry will continue to recover in 2025, driving the demand for electronic chemicals such as photoinitiators. As China's global PCB production base, domestic photoinitiator manufacturers will benefit

Debon Securities: PCB demand recovery + industry concentration increase, light-triggered agent supply-side expectations continue to improve