Amino Acids China Report

Owing to the technical support of research institutes and the guide from the central government, the amino acid growing at a fast speed, though now the most popular method in China, the fermentation method, is not that developed as the western countries. It can be said that China is a newcomer of amino acid in the world market. Most of the strains for the fermentation are ascended from overseas. The technology for the chemical synthesis cannot compare with that of foreign companies. But being a large and important developing country with vast number of population and animals, China is no doubt attractive to overseas manufacturers. There are still some areas worth considering from commercial point of view. In feed industry, Chiatai Macro of Thailand and Ajinomoto of Japan have both set up their joint ventures in China to produce feed grade lysine. Roune-Planc has set up joint venture in Tianjin to produce feed grade methionine. In pharmaceutical area, Ajimonoto has already established joint venture with Shanghai Tianchu. They have a strong ambition to be the No.1 in the production of pharmaceutical amino acids in China. One good way is to develop the downstream products by using the amino acid in China, especially to produce the dextro type (D-) amino acids, which are promising in the application of synthesizing the highly profitable pharmaceuticals.