As an important branch of special paper products, the global market size of release paper is expected to exceed $4.5 billion in 2025, with China contributing nearly 38%. Driven by surging demand in fields such as new energy battery separators, food packaging, and medical consumables, the industry's compound annual growth rate remains at a high of 6.2%. China's production capacity expansion speed leads the world, and by 2025, the East China region will form an annual production capacity cluster of over 2 million tons, accounting for 53% of the national total capacity.

In terms of production technology, ultra-thinning (≤18μm) and high temperature resistance (300℃+) have become the mainstream R&D directions. In 2025, domestic leading enterprises have achieved industrial application of nano-silicone coating technology, increasing product penetration to 72%. Tightening environmental regulations have accelerated the transformation of water-based silicone oil replacing solvent-based processes. The EU Reach regulation's addition of 4 restricted substances has directly phased out 12% of traditional production capacity.
Significant restructuring of the industrial chain has broken the upstream dependence on imported high-purity silicone oil. Domestic enterprises have increased raw material self-sufficiency from 31% in 2021 to 68% in 2025 through breakthroughs in chlorination processes. The localization rate of midstream coating equipment exceeds 90%, and the 7th generation intelligent coating lines with a width of 4.2 meters have been exported.
The regional competition pattern shows polarization. Southeast Asia has undertaken 18% of transferred production capacity due to labor cost advantages, while Germany still maintains a monopoly in high-end medical-grade products, with a premium per ton 4-7 times that of ordinary products. Chinese enterprises' international strategies have shifted from price competition to technology output, with overseas patent holdings increasing by 210% year-on-year in 2025.
Policy-driven effects are evident. China's "14th Five-Year Plan" for new materials has listed functional coating materials as a key development area, directly driving 3.5 billion yuan in special investment. The U.S. FDA's revised standards for food contact materials have led to a 17% product iteration demand in the North American market. The explosion of cross-border e-commerce channels has caused a surge in B2C small 规格 (small-specification) release paper sales, with GMV of related categories on Alibaba.com increasing by 340% in 2025.
Financing activities focus on breaking through technical barriers. Among the 17 disclosed financings of over 100 million yuan in the industry in 2025, 14 were concentrated on R&D of graphene composite coatings and bio-based silicone oil. The average R&D investment ratio of 3 listed enterprises on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board reached 8.9%, significantly higher than the 2.3% level of the traditional paper industry.