Songwon Group’s road to steady development in China

—–Interview with Mr. Tian Min, head of Songwon Group in China, and Mr. Philip Shriver, head of Songwon Industrial Group’s Functional Chemicals Division, member of Songwon Industry Executive Committee

Songyuan Industrial Group was founded in 1965. As an enterprise with a development history of more than 50 years, Songyuan took PVC stabilizers as its main products at the beginning of its establishment, and implemented a diversified development strategy on this basis, continuously investing in research and development, making its industrial chain products more and more abundant, and constantly expanding. Market, so that Songwon has become the second largest antioxidant manufacturer in the world. Recently, Songwon Industrial Group brought various products such as light and heat stabilizers, antioxidants, thermoplastic polyurethanes, PVC stabilizers and plasticizers to the 2018 China International Rubber and Plastics Exhibition again.

At the exhibition site of Shanghai Hongqiao International Convention Center, the special reporter of Tiantian Chemical Network had the honor to meet with Mr. Tian Min, the head of Songyuan Group in China, and Philip Shriver, a member of Songyuan Industry Executive Committee, the head of Songyuan Industrial Group’s Functional Chemicals Division Sir, have a close dialogue on the current development status, innovative technology and future development strategy of Songyuan.

The reporter learned that Songyuan SONGNOX® IB series antioxidant products were publicly unveiled for the first time as a highlight of this exhibition. Mr. Tian Min, head of Songyuan Industry Group China, introduced: “Based on years of mature market development , advanced pre-mixed formula technology advantages, and successfully developed the excellent SONGNOX® IB series products; at the same time, the products exhibited this time are especially suitable for the Chinese market, and each product in this series can be tailored for customers to meet customer needs Different needs.” At this exhibition, Songyuan also exhibited its SONGSTOMER TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) solution, which can meet the needs of film, sheet The increasingly stringent demands of the high-end market in application fields such as materials, wires, and cables.

Songyuan’s new breakthrough in polymer antioxidants

Mr. Philip Shriver introduced to the reporter: “Our current main business products are still mainly antioxidants, but Songyuan is still constantly seeking breakthroughs in the variety and quality of antioxidants. Last year we invested and established Amine antioxidant production plant, amine antioxidant belongs to auxiliary phenolic antioxidant, this new amine antioxidant device is currently the second largest amine antioxidant device in the world; in addition to maintaining the original In addition to the production and operation of Songyuan, Songyuan is also constantly striving to expand the business scope of other products. For example, Songyuan also opened up the new business of lubricating oil antioxidant products last year, which will help promote new business growth.”

At present, Songyuan has 9 production bases and offices all over the world; Songyuan has two joint ventures in China, among which Qingdao Haolong Songyuan Chemical Co., Ltd. provides Chinese polyolefin manufacturers with a full range of Songyuan Polymer stabilizers, and provide customized solutions for the production of OPS; Songyuan Baifu Chemical (Tangshan) Co., Ltd. is a leading manufacturer of thioester stabilizers.

TPU more development possibilities of the production line

Thermoplastic elastomer TPU series products are also the key products exhibited by Songyuan at this exhibition. The reporter learned that in the fourth quarter of 2017 Songwon has increased the production capacity of its second TPU production line in South Korea from the original 7,000 metric tons to 12,000 metric tons to meet the growing TPUmarket demand. Mr. Tian Min said that Songyuan is actively developing a production line with a large production scale and different innovative application capabilities, not just simply expanding the original product capacity; last year Songyuan added a 5,000 metric ton production line to Strengthen its own market share in the TPU market, and at the same time meet more needs of the high-end application market; Songyuan is more optimistic about the high-end application market in the future, such as this Wire and cable, electronic film and other products will be exhibited in this exhibition. In the future, Songyuan will also focus on the research and development of high-tech products: artificial intelligence, robots and other materials.

Mr. Tian Min introduced that the demand for TPU film applications in the Korean market has increased significantly, “Songwon’s current TPU films are more used in high-tech electronic products. In the past, Songwon’s promotion and sales strategy mainly focused on South Korea, but in the future, Songwon will continue to expand the international market. According to the international Continuously improve the production process and push the products to Europe, America, China and other countries, this will be another opportunity for our performance growth.”

Actively respond to market challenges   Take the road of steady development

The recent rise in production prices of raw materials has put enormous pressure on the entire chemical industry, and Songyuan is also facing certain cost impacts. Regarding the cost pressure, Tian Min analyzed that Songwon’s own corresponding countermeasures will solve this problem from multiple aspects, “One is to reduce the cost pressure brought by raw materials by comparing prices with multiple raw material suppliers; On the one hand, we will implement price increases as much as possible, but both we and our customers will actively undertake and absorb the price increases; third, create a diversified product chain, especially in terms of high value-added products, we need to continuously increase productivity, improve processes, and optimize Manufacturing costs to win more markets”.

Tian Min emphasized that Songyuan entered the Chinese market late. Compared with Songyuan’s global sales strategy, the sales ratio of the Chinese market does not match the global development strategy positioning, but Songyuan’s current goal is to strive for With the development of the Chinese market catching up with the pace of global sales development, he said with confidence that Songwon China is expected to achieve a 20% performance growth this year, which depends on the performance growth brought by the new product market. “The development of Songyuan’s traditional antioxidant business has entered a stable period, and there may not be a major breakthrough in the short term, but if Songyuan wants to rise to a higher level of development, it mainly relies on these new products to upgrade it to a new level. Our development platform in Qingdao, our OPS production line in Qingdao has been in full production shortly after the start of construction, and Songyuan also has a strong advantage in lead salt stabilizer replacement technology for PVC stabilizers, which indirectly shows that our emerging business market has a relatively large Great growth opportunities.” Tian Min added.

In addition, Mr. Philip Shriver said that he is also full of confidence in Songwon’s global future development. He is very optimistic about the future development prospects of the lubricant additive field. He believes that this is a brand new business field. The lubricating oil additive business can achieve a rapid growth rate of 20%–30% in the past year; for the TPU product field, Mr. Philip Shriver The business development of thermoplastic elastomers is also full of expectations. He believes that this year’s TPU business will also achieve double-digit growth.

According to the data analysis of Tiantian Chemical Network, from 2013 to 2017, domestic TPU new production capacity was released one after another, and domestic TPU demand maintained a rapid and stable growth, and domestic TPU from 2013 to 2017 >The average growth rate of output is as high as 25.36%. In 2017, the scale of China’s TPU industry continued to expand. At the end of 2017, domestic TPU reached about 710,000 tons; the overall output of TPU in 2017 was about 424,000 tons, compared with 366,600 tons last year. tons increased by 15.66% year-on-year, and China has gradually become the world’s largest producer and consumer of TPU.

“Songyuan’s future development strategy goal is to balance the scale of global industrial development and actively promote the growth of performance in China. Only by improving product innovation technology, constantly solving customer practical problems, and actively responding to environmental protection policies. Only by transforming and upgrading the industry while not forgetting to fulfill social responsibilities can we take the road of China’s development in a better and more stable way.” Mr. Philip Shriver emphasized.