The so-called fine chemical products (that is, fine chemicals) refer to those chemical products with specific application functions, technology intensiveness, strong commerciality, and high added value of products. Chemical companies that produce fine chemicals are commonly referred to as fine chemical industries, or fine chemicals for short.
The term fine chemicals has been in use for a long time, and originally refers to chemical products with small yields, high purity, and high prices, such as medicines, dyes, and coatings. However, this meaning has not fully revealed the nature of fine chemicals. In recent years, experts from various countries have some new insights into the definition of fine chemicals. Some European and American countries refer to chemical substances with small output and produced and sold according to different chemical structures as fine chemicals. Products that have been processed, formulated with specialized functions or end-use performance are called
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The research and application fields of fine chemicals are very wide, and their main characteristics are:
(1) It has specific functions and practical characteristics.
(2) High technology intensity.
(3) Small batches and multiple varieties.
(4) The production process is complicated, the equipment investment is large, and the capital demand is large.
(5) Strong practicality and commerciality, fierce market competition,
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The world's most developed fine chemical industry is driven by the United States, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Japan. Its product output ranks first, second, and third in the world, respectively.
New categories of fine chemicals in the United States are constantly emerging, and in the 1960s the United States developed water treatment agents; the sharp increase in oil prices in 1973 forced oil companies to develop new oil and gas resources.
Affected by the economic recession in 2008, the global fine chemicals encountered a sudden dilemma, which caused the entire industry to suffer and suffer. In 2009, relevant persons said that the global fine chemicals are about to wake up and welcome beautiful new business opportunities. At the 2009 World Pharmaceutical Ingredients Exhibition held in Madrid, Spain last week, the confidence of suppliers of fine chemicals that provide pharmaceutical intermediates to pharmaceutical companies began to increase. They believed that the most difficult predicament had passed, and they took action to grab various New business opportunities. [2]
"2009 was a challenging year for us and for the industry as a whole," said Gilles Curtier, president of SAFC, the fine chemicals business unit of the Sigma-Aldrich Group. In the first half of the year, SAFC's sales fell by 6% over the previous year, but the good news is that our orders are gradually increasing recently. "He pointed out that the company's business is slowly returning to pre-recession levels. But he still dared not take it lightly, and is closely watching the evolution of the business environment. If the third-quarter 2009 results can improve as expected, SAFC's annual business will achieve single-digit growth. Although the increase is not large, it will be of great significance to restore people's confidence.
Despite the economic downturn, SAFC and other custom chemical companies have worked hard to look forward and have taken aggressive steps. As far as SAFC is concerned, during this period, it continued to promote the implementation of three capacity expansion projects, which will be completed and put into operation from 2008 to the second quarter of 2010. Through these investments in capacity and technology, Custom Chemicals hopes to show customers their strong confidence in long-term development.
India's Piramal Healthcare also has confidence in the future of the industry. The company announced at the 2009 show that it will invest $ 1.6 million in the production of its highly effective active pharmaceutical ingredients in Grangers, Scotland. The plant will be expanded and retrofitted, where it will then produce an antibody treatment drug launched by an American biotechnology company. In addition, the company will continue to work with Pfizer to produce custom chemicals for it. It is said that after Paramount acquired Morpeth in the United States, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals renewed its fine chemical supply contract with Paramount.
Also promising for the future are California-based API and pharmaceutical intermediate manufacturer AFC Fine Chemicals. Although the company's sales in the third quarter of 2009 decreased by 10% to 12% compared with the same period in 2008, AslamMalik, the company's president, said that this was due to the company's 2008 Sales were very good, and another factor was that customers later reduced their inventory. Not long ago, the company carried out the continuous processing technology reformation of its commercial active pharmaceutical ingredient production device process. In the future, continuous liquid-liquid extraction process will be used in the production of these products, which will undoubtedly further increase the efficiency of production devices and reduce Cost of production.
It is also the leading supplier of small molecule process R & D and full life cycle custom synthesis and production services that believes that the industry has gone through the most difficult period. ArchPharmalabs, Mumbai, India has also adopted Active action. At the 2009 show, the company announced an alliance with equipment manufacturer Orochem Technologies, which uses simulated moving bed (SMB) technology to produce active clinical ingredients for a clinical stage for a US pharmaceutical company. SMB equipment and chromatographic stationary phases manufactured by Auro Chemical Technology can be used for bioanalysis, solid phase extraction and preparative chromatography. This marks the first time that factory-grade SMB technology will be used in India for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
In addition, British catalyst technology company Reaxa has recently opened a subsidiary in India and will establish a catalyst production plant there to produce products indispensable for active pharmaceutical ingredients.
