China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) is planning to invest 50 billion yuan to build a large production site in Tianjin over the next five years.

The chemicals producer is also planning to have 10 production sites nationwide, including Shenyang in Liaoning, Nantong in Jiangsu and Chengdu in Sichuan, Ren Jianxin, president of ChemChina told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

ChemChina is investing 26 billion yuan in the next three years for the Tianjin facility, said Ren. It will focus on the production of new chemical products.

The Tianjin site will manufacture two important chemicals, methionine and organic silicon, said Ren. ChemChina has now become one of the world's leading manufacturers of the two materials.

"We will build our Tianjin site into one of the largest manufacturing bases for methionine and organic silicon in the world, and bulk of the products will be exported," said Ren.

In 2006, China National Bluestar Group Corp (Bluestar), a ChemChina subsidiary, acquired France-based Adisseo Group, a leading global animal nutrition feed firm specializing in the production of methionine, vitamins and biological enzymes.

In the same year, Bluestar bought another French company Rhodia's organic silicon business, including its patents, manufacturing equipment and distribution channels.

The two deals have greatly enhanced ChemChina's manufacturing capacity for the two materials, said Ren.

"We are committed to a long-term strategy of developing new chemical products," said Ren.

Energy-efficient and environmentally friendly products will become ever more important to the world in the future. This is also what ChemChina will focus on in the next decade, he said.

Established in 2004, ChemChina has already consolidated its business into six units - innovative chemical materials and specialty chemicals, oil processing and refining products, chlor-alkali chemicals, agrochemicals, rubber products and chemical equipment. Ren said his plan for each unit is "to develop their business as the largest in China and one among the top three in the world".

Although China's chemical industry has been facing a slowdown since last September due to the financial crisis, Ren said he still expects ChemChina to achieve "10 percent growth in sales this year".

China's stimulus package for the petrochemical industry is "timely rain" for the sector, and ChemChina will take advantage of this to further boost the company's project development, he said.

China announced its stimulus package for the petrochemical industry in February.

(China Daily March 19, 2009)