Amino Acids China Monthly Report

February witnessed price increases of domestic major amino acids as producers inflated their quotations. Price hikes of threonine and lysine were supported by corn's high price as well as strong demand from downstream breeding industry; while that of methionine was due to rising prices of its raw materials—methanol, propylene and sulfur, plus the suspended production of 320,000 t/a liquid methionine in Texas.

Policy: On 4 Feb., the Technical Specifications for Green-design Product Assessment – Amino Acids was made open for comments by the China Biotech Fermentation Industry Association. The formulation of the standard will provide production technology standards for China's amino acid enterprises, which can improve China's product quality as well as domestic market competitiveness of amino acids.

Company dynamics of amino acid:

• Adisseo's revenues and net profits both achieved growth in 2020—thanks to its fast increasing sales in its liquid methionine, vitamins and specialty products.
• Global Bio-chem Technology predicted a 20% loss in 2020.
• Yongan Pharmaceutical, the leading taurine producer, announced to hold 60% shares of Zhongji Hydrogen Energy and to set foot in new energy industry.
• CJ Haide's 2,450 t/a amino acid technological upgrading project was made publicized. After commissioning, the company's capacity will increase to 2,450 t/a, including five kinds of amino acid products.
• Jinxiang Material proposed to build up a 500 t/a glycine methyl ester hydrochloride and 1,500 t/a glycine ethyl ester hydrochloride project.
• Tinci Materials in intending to increase 50,000 t/a amino acid surfactants.

Feed industry dynamics:

• China's feed output experienced fast growth in 2020. This was attributed to the recovery of pig production, a great number of poultry on farm and the thriving production and marketing of cattle and sheep.
• HAID Group's feed sale volume reached 14.7 million tonnes in 2020; while that of New Hope is expected to surpass 20 million tonnes. Both outputs of the companies increased on a YoY basis.

Imports and exports: December 2020 saw MoM decreases in China's export volumes of glutamic acid and lysine ester and salt, down by 45.0% and 2.4% respectively.

The USD/RMB exchange rate in this Report is USD1.00=RMB6.4623 on 1 Feb., 2021, sourced from the People's Bank of China. All the prices mentioned in this Report will include the VAT, unless otherwise specified.