Anhydride demand in India underpinned solid results

Recently, a senior official from Indian local producer KLJ Group stated that the Indian phthalic anhydride industry has basically not been affected by the global economic downturn due to strong downstream demand. Push Jain, director of KLJ Group, said, "India's situation is different from other parts of the world. The country is less affected by the global economic downturn."

According to the group's forecast, India's phthalic anhydride demand is expected to grow rapidly at an annual average rate of 6% to 8%. Jain pointed out, "The current trend is that most global suppliers come to India to sell their phthalic anhydride because there is still demand in India's domestic downstream industry."

KLJ Group is one of the largest plasticizers and polymer composites manufacturers in South Asia. The group recently put into operation a phthalic anhydride production unit with an annual capacity of 100,000 tons. The newly commissioned phthalic anhydride unit of KLJ Group is built in the Jhagadia factory in the western Baruch region of Gujarat. 70% to 75% of the phthalic anhydride production from the unit will be used for self-consumption, and the rest will be sold in the domestic market in India. KLJ owns a 300,000-ton/year dioctyl phthalate plasticizer production line, a 3,500-ton/year maleic anhydride unit, and a 700-ton/year benzoic acid unit.

Jain said that the Indian government's decision to implement mandatory Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification for phthalic anhydride will help the industry's development. Now, after implementing BIS quality standards, no producer can sell in India without certification. The BIS phthalic anhydride standard came into effect on June 22, 2023. Currently, only three companies, Thai PTT Global Chemical, South Korea's OCI, and Korea's LG Chem, have obtained BIS certification. This gives domestic companies such as KLJ the opportunity to fill the demand gap.