NHU Pharmaceutical Net Profit Soars 117 Percent as Nutrition Business Surges to 15 Billion Yuan

NHU Pharmaceutical stunned the market with its 2024 annual report on April 14, revealing a 117.01% surge in net profit to 5.87 billion yuan, and a revenue jump of 42.95% to 21.61 billion yuan. Driving this stellar performance was the rapid scale-up of methionine production capacity and the price rebound of core nutrition products amid tight supply and demand recovery in animal husbandry.

The company’s nutrition business took center stage, posting revenue of 15.005 billion yuan, up 52.58% year-on-year, with a gross margin increase of 13.27 percentage points, reaching 43.18%. NHU now ranks among the global leaders in vitamin E and vitamin A production, leveraging its R&D edge and industrial scale.

With vitamin prices rebounding across the board in 2024, NHU capitalized on the uptrend. Meanwhile, overseas competitors saw production disruptions due to raw material shortages and strategic realignment, pushing global supply chains to lean further on China. In fact, China accounted for 85.9% of global vitamin output, approximately 420,000 tons in 2024.

The explosive growth was also supported by infrastructure milestones: methionine capacity ramped up to 300,000 tons per year, and its joint venture with Sinopec is set to deliver an additional 180,000 tons of liquid methionine capacity. Other projects, including IPDI, cysteine, glufosinate, and high-performance PPS materials, are advancing steadily.

External factors further boosted margins. A fire at BASF’s German facility in July 2024 triggered a sharp spike in vitamin prices, with NHU’s Q3 and Q4 net profits hitting 1.785 and 1.879 billion yuan, respectively—far exceeding H1 performance.

Looking ahead, the company projects Q1 2025 net profit of 1.8 to 1.9 billion yuan, marking over 100% year-on-year growth. It plans to deepen its footprint across Zhejiang, Shandong, and Heilongjiang, while branching into agrochemicals, renewables, and environmental materials as part of its next growth phase.