Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Yangtze Delta Chemcial Industry Cluster/International Companies

Three industrial zones near the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province, China have dozens of international and Chinese chemical companies.  This area is one of China’s highest chemical company concentration and chemical output areas.  The three industrial zones are: Ningbo Economic and Technology Development Zone (NETDZ); Ningbo Daxie Development Zone (NDDZ); and Ningbo Petrochemical Economic and Technology Zone (NPETZ).

NETDZ, a state-level economic zone, established in 1984, one of China’s first economic zones, covers about 30 square kilometers.  International companies in the zone include: Exxon Mobil; Dow; BP; DuPont; Mitsui Chemcial; Mitsubishi Chemcial; Akzo-Nobel; and others.  A free trade zone is within NETDZ.  The port of Beilum, one of the largest in China, is adjacent to NETDZ.  Click here to go to the NETDZ website.

NDDZ, also a state-level economic zone, set up in 1993, is located on Daxie Island, and smaller, interconnected islands, just off-shore from NETDZ, and connected to the mainland by a highway and railroad bridge.  NDDZ has about 26 kilometers of coast line for port activities, including about 11 kilometers considered deep water.  NDDZ is an important petrochemical center in China.   Major Chinese petroleum companies SINOPEC, CNOOC, and PetroChina have facilities located in NDDZ.   Non-Chinese companies located at NDDZ include: Mitsubishi Chemcial; Linde; and Hanwha Chemical.  Click here to go the NDDZ website.

NPETZ is the third industrial zone near Ningbo City with numerous chemical companies.  NPETZ, which became a state-level economic zone only recently in 2010, is located along the southern Hangzhou Bay coastline not far from Ningbo City and from NETDZ and NDDZ.   NPETZ covers about 56 square kilometers.  The zone was set up primarily for chemical industry companies. Supposedly the largest refinery in China, a SINOPEC facility, is located at NPETZ.  Other international companies include: LG; Total; Formosa Plastics; Laxness; Akzo-Nobel; and SK Group.  NPETZ apparently was set up for locating chemical enterprises further away from urban areas around Ningbo.  Click here to go to the NPETZ website.

Zhejiang Province, where Ningbo is located, is one of the two provinces plus Shanghai city that borders Hangzhou Bay and make up the Yangtze River Delta Economic Region.  This economic region accounts for about 20% of China’s gross domestic product and about 33% of its imports and exports.  Click here (PDF file) for a United States Government report on the Yangtze River Delta Region.

According to Province and National Bureau of Statistics of China data, the Yangtze Delta Region in 2006 accounted for:  33.5% of raw chemical material products; 24.9% of medical and pharmaceutical products; 71.4% of chemical fibers; 28.7% of rubber products; 36.5% of plastic products; and 16.7% of petroleum processing and coke products, and nuclear fuel processing produced in China.   The same sources indicate that in 2006 the Yangtze Delta Region accounted for about 30% (1,603.06 billion Yuan/5,293.51 billion Yuan) of the gross production value of China’s chemical industry.


The above data suggests that the Yangtze River Delta Region would be a high priority area for foreign international chemical companies to consider locating in.  In doing so, researching the suitability of various economic development zones such as NETDZ, NDDZ, and NPETZ, described above, is important.  Locating in an economic zone (park) that is right for one’s company can be critical to the success of the company.  A report by Mortenson provides some useful information on the economic zone system in China and on deciding on the right economic zone (park) in the Yangtze River Delta Region.  Click here (PDF file) to read this report.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Chemical and Material Shortage Alert – December 2015

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and material shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is December 2015.

Section I below lists those chemicals and materials that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply. Click here to read the November 2015 Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and materials (not on the November alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.   Chemicals and materials identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in short supply status are not listed.

Section I.   Agar:  global; sources no longer available

Section II.   Shortages Reported in December not found on the Previous Month’s List

None

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as: 

1.  Mining not keeping up with demand: none
2.  Production not keeping up with demand: none
3.  Government regulations: none
4.  Sources no longer available: none
5.  Insufficient imports:  none
6.  Supply not keeping up with demand:  none