Even after more than 20 years of doing business in Asia, I still come across producers, plants and raw material chains that barely appear in the usual European market overviews

Even after more than 20 years of doing business in Asia, I still come across producers, plants and raw material chains that barely appear in the usual European market overviews.

I am Siggi. I know the chemistry in Asia.

During my current market analysis in China, several developments caught my attention.

Jiangsu Huafeng Ruixun is pursuing a BioPTMEG project based on furfural derived from corn cobs. Dongying Liancheng Chemical, part of Huatai Group, has built a plant for 100,000 tonnes of epichlorohydrin per year using a glycerol-based sodium process. The project documents for Fujian Baihong show 140,000 tonnes of propylene carbonate per year. However, 120,000 tonnes are intended for captive use.

These are only three examples from a much broader analysis. I have found further interesting names and connections involving propylene oxide, MMA, BDO, NMP, GBL, acrylic acid, silicone products and chlorinated paraffins.

I am less interested in the big numbers in the headlines. I want to understand which feedstock route is being used, how integrated a site is, what volumes could actually reach the merchant market and whether a producer is even visible in Europe.

For me, strategic procurement begins at precisely this point. A reliable view of the market requires us to regularly review known structures and remain open to developments outside what we have been looking at so far.

This combination of experience and curiosity is exactly what makes this work so interesting to me.

That's the chemistry.
Siggi