Anyone buying chemicals in India needs to know early whether a new plant is being built for export or for the growing domestic market

Anyone buying chemicals in India needs to know early whether a new plant is being built for export or for the growing domestic market. In my weekly round through Asia it was India's turn this week, and five findings show why I need this.

I am Siggi. I know the chemistry in Asia.

I looked at Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. I search without a product list and without a supplier list. I am interested in everything that is being built or starting up there, including products I do not handle today.

The obvious source would be the approval procedures of the state environmental authorities and the central government database. For my search, however, these portals could hardly be used for full-text research. The mandatory filings of listed companies, the Indian trade press and the companies’ own announcements are more productive. I then check every finding against my own database.

Then comes the filter. A plant only stays in if the product can be transported, is used in industries that chemical distribution in Europe supplies, is permitted here, and if the producer exports at all. Of the eleven projects I looked at more closely this week, six dropped out. One is explicitly built for the domestic market, one supplies its own integrated site. Two reports turned out to be old, because the plants have been running for a long time. For two, it was not clear what they are going to produce. Among the remaining five there is also a large project which, according to its announcement, mainly serves growing demand in India itself.

I already know four of the five producers. Three of them are currently building up products that I do not buy from them today.

The reason for this work is securing the supply chain. My goal is to know alternative suppliers for every important product and to build a backup that is in place before I need it. For some products, the entire business today depends on a single producer. At the same time, the framework conditions keep changing. A tariff or a trade defence case comes along, or the country of origin suddenly needs its volumes itself. Then a second source does not appear overnight. In my experience, samples, customer approval, registration and first deliveries take longer than you have in a shortage. Anyone who buys from a distributor buys not only the product but also the certainty that it will still arrive tomorrow.

And a single look is only a snapshot. Only when I look regularly do I see how an announcement turns into a plant. Where the start-up is still years away, I set myself a date to check again.

Next week it is Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

That's the chemistry.
Siggi