A few days ago, Sinochem International signed a agreement with Suzhou Municipal Government on strategic cooperation. They planned to make joint investments in constructing three Macromolecule chemical and industrial materials project, including the PTMEG project with a final annual output of 40000 tons, the ABS Colophony project with a final annual output of 500000 tons and the ammonia project. Meanwhile, the company will also join Suzhou Municipal Government in establishing Taicang Industrial Park of Chemical Industry, Logistics and Petrochemicals, a grand chemical industrial and logistics base, which is also said to be the biggest inner capital cooperation project of Suzhou Municipal Government so far.
What did Sinochem International, this listed company with traditional trade as major business, think when it decided to pour so much in producing chemically products? Wang Yinpin, G.M. of Sinochem International gave an interview to the journalist.
Wang made clear the purpose from the very beginning by saying that, "It is the increasingly heated market competition for years that has pressed us for the decision to entering the upstream chemical industrial products market, in order to outstretch the company's business chain and to improve business structure. As long as we possess firm industrial basis, we could resist risks better, consolidate the advantage we hold in domestic chemical industry and to remain invincible."
Wang introduced that, PTMEG is mainly used to produce polyurethane elastomer, ammonia and ester-aether copolymer elastomer, which are all the largest consumer of PTMEG in overseas markets, accounting for 49%, 36% and 15% of the PTMEG consumption respectively. In China PTMEG is mainly used to produce polyurethane elastomer, ammonia and there is almost none ester-aether copolymer elastomer produced domestically. As the best among various elastic fibers, ammonia fibers has kept diversifying its application with the change of garment trend and has got increasingly adopted in demanding molecule material for medical using in the recent years. Besides being took as the major raw material of ammonia fibers, PTMEG is also used as spinning chemicals in manual programming. TPU made in PTMEG, with only a few companies internationally such as BASF, DUPONG, and Asahi Kasei owning its patent, is widely used in industry such as petrochemicals, machinery, war industry, shipbuilding, automobile, and chemical leather synthetic leather, etc. ABS is a raw material for macromolecule fine chemicals, widely used in aspects like refrigerator innocuity plastic. For domestic enterprises, most of them have relied on importing both PTMEG and ABS for long period of time, while Sinochem International no has got the exclusive IPR of them through arduous work. In the end of May 2003, Sinochem International Taicang Xingguo Industry & Commerce Co., Ltd. started the project of PTMEG with an annual output of 20000 tons. In comparison with foreign one of its kind, the technology of PTMEG for heteropoly acid continuous bulk polyurammonia is featured with short technological process, no pollution, low investment (only accounting for 40% of that of its kind in Europe and America) and good quality, etc, resulting in the selling out in advance booking of all the 20000 PTMEG produced in trail operation of the project. Another ABS producing project through the independent R&D of Sinochem International has now finished its mid test and will be totally finished and put into operation in 2004. With the initial ABS annual output of 60000 tons, the final annual output of the project will reach 50000 tons. Once put into operation, this project will become a Chinese High-tech production base of ABS as special material, where products produced will completely take the place of imported ones.
Wang said, the cause of the strategic transition of Sinochem International is actually a cause of its expansion and the improvement of its business structure. He introduced that, the company's advantage in chemicals shipment is visible since it owns the largest liquid chemicals shipment fleet in the country, with an annual shipping capacity of 1 million tons. In mean time, with the cooperation between Sinochem International and Suzhou Municipal Government, the construction of chemical and logistics park in Taicang, which enjoys a convenient transportation and relatively concentration of clients for chemicals in surrounding areas, will not only contribute to the integration of existed logistic resources of the company, but will also lay a good foundation for the establishment of a chemical industrial, logistics and petrochemical park at the State level.
Wang also said that, in the following years, Sinochem International will show a clear business chain with the integration of trade and distribution, chemical industry and logistics, as well as macromolecule materials production. With a more rational business structure, the company is bound to enjoy more stable returns of investment and more firm status as the leader in Chinese chemicals sector.
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