Explain in detail the characteristics and barriers of my country's fine chemical

In recent years, various countries around the world, especially industrialized countries, have regarded the development of fine chemical products as one of the key development strategies for the structural upgrading and adjustment of traditional chemical industries, and their chemical industries have developed in the direction of "diversification" and "refinement". With the further development of society and economy, people’s demand for electronics, automobiles, machinery industry, new construction materials, new energy and new environmental protection materials will further increase. Electronics and information chemicals, surface engineering chemicals, pharmaceutical chemicals, etc. With further development, the global fine chemicals market will maintain a faster growth rate than the traditional chemical industry. In this issue, I will talk to you about this topic.



Fine chemicals


Fine chemicals refer to chemicals with high technical density, high added value, and high purity that can enhance or endow a product (type) with specific functions or have specific functions in small batch manufacturing and application, and are further basic chemicals. The product of deep processing.



In 1986, the former Ministry of Chemical Industry divided fine chemical products into 11 categories: (1) pesticides; (2) dyes; (3) coatings (including paints and inks); (4) pigments; (5) reagents and high-purity substances (6) Information chemicals (including photosensitive materials, magnetic materials and other chemicals that can receive electromagnetic waves); (7) Food and feed additives; (8) Adhesives; (9) Catalysts and various additives; ( 10) Chemicals (raw materials) and daily chemicals (produced by the chemical system); (11) Functional polymer materials in polymer polymers (including functional films, polarizing materials, etc.). With the development of the national economy, the development and application of fine chemicals will continue to expand, and new categories will continue to increase.



Fine chemicals have the following characteristics:



(1) A wide variety of products and a wide range of applications


There are 40-50 categories of fine chemicals in the world, with more than 100,000 varieties. Fine chemicals are used in all aspects of daily life, such as medicine, dyes, pesticides, coatings, daily chemicals, electronic materials, paper chemicals, inks, food additives, feed additives, water treatment, etc., as well as in aerospace, biotechnology, Information technology, new materials, new energy technology, environmental protection and other high-tech applications are widely used.



(2) Complex production technology


There are many varieties of fine chemicals, and the same intermediate product can be extended to several or even dozens of derivatives for different purposes through different processes. The production process is complex and changeable, and the technology is complicated. All kinds of fine chemical products need to undergo laboratory development, small test, pilot test and then to large-scale production. They also need to be updated or improved in time according to the changes in the needs of downstream customers. The product quality stability requirements are high, and the company needs to produce Continuously improve the process and accumulate experience in the process. Therefore, the derivative development of fine chemical products in subdivisions, the accumulation of experience in production processes and the ability to innovate are the core competitiveness of a fine chemical enterprise.



(3) High added value of products



The production process involved in fine chemical products is relatively long and requires multiple multi-unit operations. The manufacturing process is more complicated. The production process meets mild reaction conditions, safe operating environment, specific chemical reactions and other conditions to achieve chemicals Easy separation and high product yield require high-level process technology and reaction equipment. Therefore, fine chemical products generally have higher added value.



(4) Variety of compound products



In practical applications, fine chemicals appear as the comprehensive functions of products. This requires screening of different chemical structures in chemical synthesis, and the coordination of fine chemicals' own functions and other coordinated substances in the production of dosage forms. There are various demands for fine chemical products in industrial production, and it is difficult for a single product to meet the needs of production or use. Take the water treatment industry where the company is located as an example. Special chemicals used in this field include fungicides and algaecides, Scale agents, corrosion inhibitors, flocculants, etc., and the chemical agents for each purpose can be compounded by several chemical agents.



(5) The product has high viscosity to downstream customers



Fine chemical products are generally used in specific areas of the industrial production process or to achieve specific functions of downstream products. Therefore, users have higher requirements for product quality and stability, and the supplier selection process and standards are more stringent. Once entered the supplier list, they will Will not be easily replaced.



Fine chemical industry classification


The fine chemical industry is the general name of the fine chemical industry, referred to as "fine chemical industry", which has the economic characteristics of high added value and high investment profit. The fine chemical industry has high technology intensiveness, high product added value, high profit margins, and its development depends on scientific and technological innovation. It is the strategic focus of the world's chemical industry development, and it is also an important symbol of a country's comprehensive technical level and the fastest growing economy. One of the fields.



1. Divided by application area


According to the national economic classification standards, fine chemicals are divided into four sub-sectors: pesticide manufacturing, paint, ink, pigment and similar product manufacturing, special chemical product manufacturing, and daily chemical product manufacturing.

2. Divided by product category


With the rapid development of my country's economy and science and technology after the reform and opening up, my country's fine chemical industry has developed rapidly. According to product categories, it can be divided into two parts: traditional fields and emerging fields.



(1) Traditional fields of fine chemical industry


The traditional fields of the fine chemical industry mainly include pesticides, fertilizers, coatings and other fields. After long-term accumulation, my country's fine chemical industry has basically met the needs of national economic development in traditional fields. Some products have certain international competitiveness. The output of dyes and pesticides has ranked first in the world, and the output of coatings has reached the fourth place in the world.



(2) Emerging fields of fine chemical industry


Fine chemical products in emerging fields have the characteristics of strong specificity and high technical content. The categories mainly include food additives, feed additives, adhesives, surfactants, paper chemicals, water treatment chemicals, electronic chemicals, etc. At present, the overall technical level of my country's fine chemical industry is still relatively low, and some fine chemical products in emerging fields still need to be imported in large quantities. The entire industry is in the stage of optimization and upgrading. There is still a lot of room for improvement in the fine chemical industry in emerging fields.



Characteristics of Fine Chemical Industry


1. The fine chemical industry belongs to the manufacturing industry and has a high degree of industrial relevance with other industries



The industries that are more closely related to the fine chemical industry mainly include: agriculture, textiles, construction, paper industry, food industry, daily chemical production, electronic equipment, etc. The development of the fine chemical industry is closely related to these industries.



The upstream of the fine chemical industry is mainly the manufacturing of basic chemical raw materials; at the same time, the products provided by the fine chemical industry are the basic raw materials for many other industries, such as agriculture, construction, textiles, and pharmaceuticals. The development of agriculture, construction, textile, pharmaceutical, electronics and other related industries provides development opportunities for the development of fine chemical industry; at the same time, the development of fine chemical industry will also promote the development of upstream industries.



2. The fine chemical industry has certain characteristics of economies of scale


The production scale of foreign fine chemical production enterprises is more than 100,000 tons. In the second half of the 20th century, the global fine chemical production enterprises are represented by the United States and Japan, showing the characteristics of large-scale and specialization, in order to continuously reduce production costs. At present, the concentration of my country's fine chemical industry is relatively low, with the majority of small enterprises, while the proportion of medium and large enterprises, especially large enterprises, is relatively low.



3. The fine chemical industry is an industry with high emissions of industrial pollutants


According to the 2012 Environmental Statistics Annual Report, the chemical industry’s wastewater emissions accounted for 16.3% of the national industrial wastewater emissions, ranking second; exhaust gas emissions accounted for 6% of the national industrial emissions, ranking fourth; solid waste emissions It accounts for 5% of the country’s industrial solid waste emissions, ranking fifth; COD emissions account for 11.7% of the country’s total industrial COD emissions, ranking third.



4. Periodic characteristics of the industry


The downstream industries facing the fine chemical industry mainly include environmental plasticizers, powder coatings, insulating materials, high-temperature curing agents and other industries. The end products are used in various plastic products, building materials, packaging materials, household appliances, automotive machinery, etc., covering In many areas of the national economy, the industry itself does not have obvious cyclical characteristics, but due to the impact of the macro economy, it will show certain fluctuations as the overall economic situation changes. The industry cycle is basically the same as the cycle of the entire macroeconomic operation.



5. Regional characteristics of the industry


From the perspective of the regional distribution of my country's fine chemical industry enterprises, the regional structure of enterprises in the fine chemical industry is obvious, of which East China accounts for the largest proportion and North China ranks second.

6. Seasonal characteristics of the industry


The downstream application fields of the fine chemical industry are relatively extensive, and there is no obvious seasonal feature in general.



Barriers to the fine chemical industry


The variety of fine chemical products, fast update speed, strong specificity, and complex production processes determine that the main obstacles to entering the industry are technical R&D barriers, environmental protection and safety barriers, sales channel barriers, and capital investment barriers.



1. Technical R&D barriers


In addition to professional academic background, high-end technicians of fine chemical intermediates also need years of practical experience in R&D and production. There are many types of fine chemical intermediates and they are updated quickly. It is necessary to continuously adjust and update product varieties in accordance with the needs of downstream pesticides, pharmaceuticals and dyes. This requires enterprises to have strong R&D capabilities and reserves of new technologies and new varieties.


The technology research and development of the fine chemical industry mainly focuses on the selection of new product varieties, the selection of chemical reaction process paths, the selection of catalysts, and the process control of temperature, pressure, and time. Different R&D paths and process options have an impact on product cost, purity, quality and subsequent expansion. The difference is huge. Therefore, having a large number of high-end and mature professional and technical personnel is extremely important to the company's sustainable development. The fine chemical industry also has very high requirements for crystallization separation technology, distillation purification technology, chromatographic inspection technology, safe operation technology and pollutant treatment technology, and it requires enterprises to be equipped with corresponding professional production technical workers.



To sum up, to enter the market and develop for a long time, fine chemical companies must have strong product research and development capabilities and long-term production technology accumulation. These aspects constitute technical barriers to the industry.



2. Environmental protection and safety barriers


In the production process of fine chemicals, hazardous materials such as waste water, exhaust gas, and solid waste are generated. Enterprises need to invest a lot of money in the treatment of these hazardous materials to make their production meet the national environmental protection standards. As national environmental protection standards continue to improve, companies must continue to increase research and development of pollutant treatment technologies, investment in environmental protection facilities, and pollutant disposal efforts.



At the same time, some of the raw materials and intermediate products used in the production process are flammable, explosive, toxic and other dangerous chemicals. The chemical reactions in the production process have safety risks such as leakage, flammability, and explosion. If an employee violates the safety operation regulations, causing the reaction path, temperature, concentration, and pressure change to exceed the safety standard, or the equipment is seriously aging and out of repair, safety accidents such as explosion, leakage, and fire may occur, resulting in company personnel injury and property damage. The company needs to continuously invest in safe production processing technology and safety protection.



In summary, the continuous strengthening of environmental protection and safety requirements, and the increasing investment in environmental protection and safety of enterprises, constitute environmental protection and safety barriers in the fine chemical industry.



3. Barriers to sales channels


The speciality of fine chemical intermediate products requires the establishment of specific sales channels, and the ability to maintain long-term business cooperation with customers will have a major impact on the daily operation and long-term development of the company. The quality and purity of fine chemical intermediates directly affect the performance and quality of end products. Multinational integrated chemical companies such as BASF Group and Cologne Co., Ltd. have very strict requirements on suppliers’ production scale, product quality, and sustainability. After comprehensively inspecting and evaluating the relevant intermediate manufacturers in terms of R&D capabilities, product quality, environmental protection measures, and occupational health, the main suppliers of one or several intermediates can be determined, and review and rating will be performed regularly /audit.


Therefore, once a fine chemical intermediate company is selected as a supplier, it usually forms a stable cooperative relationship with large downstream customers. Specific sales channels and strict qualification requirements constitute a strong sales channel barrier for new entrants.



4. Capital investment barriers


With the improvement of China's environmental protection policy, safety production policy and employee welfare policy, and the increasingly strict import standards of fine chemical intermediates by developed countries such as the United States and Europe, the entry barriers for the fine chemical intermediates industry are getting higher and higher. Manufacturers of fine chemical intermediates are required to make greater investment in environmental protection, safety, product research and development, and scale of operations, leading to continuous increases in their initial and continuous investment. Small fine chemical companies that do not have the advantages of scale and technology will be gradually eliminated by the market.



Therefore, the ever-increasing requirements for fixed assets and R&D investment constitute a financial barrier to entry into this industry.



Introduction to Fine Chemical Industry Industry Chain



The fine chemical industry is an important pillar industry of the national economy. The upstream includes raw materials such as petroleum and ore, and the downstream includes agriculture, textile, construction, paper industry, food industry, daily chemical production, electronic equipment and many other industries. The fine chemical industry involves many fields in the national economy and has a high strategic position.