Wanhua Chemical Fujian MDI project started

On December 22, Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. issued an announcement.Wanhua Chemical (Fujian) Isocyanate Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Wanhua Chemical, has completed the 400,000-ton/year diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) plant and produced qualified products on December 22.

It is reported that Wanhua Chemical (Fujian) Co., Ltd. is a joint venture established by Wanhua Chemical and Fujian Petrochemical Group Co., Ltd. in March 2021 according to the shareholding ratio of 80% and 20%.The company builds 400,000 tons/year of MDI and aniline supporting projects, including the first phase of construction of 400,000 tons/year of MDI devices, and the second phase of supporting construction of 480,000 tons/year of nitrobenzene and 360,000 tons/year of aniline devices.The first phase of the MDI device will be piled in December 2020, large-scale equipment will be installed on August 21, 2021, and it will be officially put into operation on December 22, 2022.

Wanhua Chemical is currently the only enterprise in China that owns the independent intellectual property rights of a full range of isocyanate manufacturing technologies for MDI, TDI, and ADI. Its business covers four industrial clusters of polyurethane, petrochemicals, fine chemicals, and emerging materials.Wanhua Chemical stated that the operation of the Fujian project will further optimize the company's MDI industry layout and enhance the global industry competitiveness.

In addition, in 2021, Wanhua Chemical completed the 1.1 million tons/year technical transformation and expansion of the Yantai MDI plant, which increased the company's MDI production capacity to 2.65 million tons, accounting for nearly 30% of the global market share, and becoming the world's largest MDI producer.In December 2022, the 400,000-ton/year MDI project in Fuqing, Fujian Province will be put into operation.At present, Wanhua Chemical has an MDI production capacity of 3.05 million tons per year, including 1.1 million tons per year in Yantai, Shandong Province, 1.2 million tons per year in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, 400,000 tons per year in Fuqing, Fujian Province, and 350,000 tons per year in Borsod, Hungary.

At present, Wanhua has developed the latest "six generations +" MDI technology, and is carrying out technological transformation on the existing MDI device in Ningbo base, so that the total production capacity of MDI device will be increased to 1.8 million tons per year, of which the first phase will be 400,000 tonsTon/year will be expanded to 600,000 tons/year, and the second phase will be expanded from 800,000 tons/year to 1.2 million tons/year. After the Ningbo base MDI project is put into operation, the total MDI production capacity of Wanhua Chemical will reach 3.65 million tons/year.

CICC predicts that, except for Wanhua Chemical, only Kumho Mitsui and BASF will have a small amount of MDI expansion capacity in the next few years, and the new global MDI production capacity will continue to be concentrated in Wanhua Chemical.Ascension, the leading position was strengthened again.The release of Wanhua Chemical's MDI production capacity basically matches the growth of global demand.With the gradual recovery of the domestic economy, it is expected that the domestic demand for MDI is expected to gradually improve, which will drive the gradual recovery of MDI prices and profits.