China’s Changhua starts operation of new polyol plant

Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu – Changhua Chemical Technology started partial operation on its second polyol plant in June. The plant, with CNY 265m ($40 m) investment, will bring Changhua’s total polyol capacity to 220kT/year when fully on stream.

Located at Changhua’s existing site in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province, the second plant has ten production lines with planned capacity of 50kT/year polymerised polyol (POP) and 50kT/year polyether polyol. The construction of the project started in mid 2017 and is expected to take four years to complete.

The company’s first plant has six production lines with planned capacity of 20kT/year specialty polyol, 40kT/year polyether polyol and 60kT/year POP.

Changhua filed for an IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange last December. The company wants to raise CNY 331m to fund the project and repay bank loans.

According to the prospectus, in May 2017 Sinopec Shanghai Gaoqiao Petrochemical, one of China’s leading polyether polyol makers, shut its 180kT/year facilities permanently.

This brings new opportunities to China’s polyol makers, especially those with high-value-added products, said the prospectus.

In 2016 China had a total polyether polyol supply of 3.2m tons, up 11% from 2015. Demand rose by 11% to 3.1m tons, said the prospectus.

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