Can domestic Chinese isobutene fully replace imported material in high-end applications?

Can domestic Chinese isobutene fully replace imported material in high-end applications?
The gap between domestic and imported isobutene has narrowed dramatically over the past decade. In 2012, imported product dominated food-grade polyisobutylene, with domestic material confined to industrial uses due to inconsistent impurity control. Today, leading Chinese producers operate 100,000-tonne high-purity units reaching 99.99% purity, matching global majors on the core specification. In some metrics, domestic product is actually superior—isomerization byproduct levels run 3.5-6.77% versus roughly 20% for typical imports. The remaining gaps are narrower: polyisobutylene color (APHA ≤30 versus ≤15 for imports) and volatiles content (≤1% versus ≤0.6%). Price remains a decisive advantage, with domestic material 30-40% cheaper. Full substitution is already achieved in commodity derivatives like MTBE and tert-butylamine, and feasibility exceeds 80% in fine chemical intermediates such as MMA and pivalic acid. The main caveat is batch-to-batch consistency for polymerization-grade buyers.