On the evening of December 26, Zhejiang Nhu Company Ltd(002001) (002001) announced that it would sign the letter of intent for joint venture and cooperation with Sinopec Zhenhai Refining and chemical branch. The two sides established a joint venture to jointly invest in a set of methionine production facilities, with a total investment of about 3 billion yuan.
It is understood that methionine is the “skeleton” amino acid of biosynthetic protein and one of the amino acids necessary for the growth of livestock. It has a strong regulatory effect on animal metabolism and is widely used in feed, medicine, food, cosmetics and other fields.
At present, chemical synthesis method is mainly used to prepare methionine. According to the synthetic raw materials, chemical synthesis method can be divided into malonate method, aminolactone method, acrolein method, etc. among which acrolein method is the main industrialized production process of methionine in the world.
At present, China is the largest methionine consumer in the world. At present, the production of methionine in the world is mainly concentrated in several traditional feed additive manufacturers such as Degussa, Bluestar Adisseo Company(600299) , Novartis and Sumitomo of Japan. The annual demand of China’s methionine market is about 200000 tons, and it needs natural growth every year, which basically depends on imports.
According to the disclosure of Zhejiang Nhu Company Ltd(002001) , in the previous phase II project with an annual output of 250000 tons of methionine invested and constructed by the company, 100000 tons of plant, biological fermentation project (phase I) and other new projects have been stable production; The company’s phase II project with an annual output of 250000 tons of methionine, of which 150000 tons of units are carried out as planned, and the overall progress is controllable.
With regard to the joint venture with Sinopec, Zhejiang Nhu Company Ltd(002001) said that it aims to explore the cooperation between the two sides in resources and technology. The steady progress of the investment project will be conducive to the subsequent deepening cooperation between the two sides in the field of high-end fine chemicals. In addition, the specific new capacity of the project has not been disclosed yet.
Everbright Securities Company Limited(601788) in a research report in November, it was pointed out that the price of China’s methionine market continued to decline after the sharp rise and fall in 2014-2015. At present, the price is basically at the bottom and has broad upward space. At present, affected by the covid-19 epidemic, the production of CJ Malaysia factory is limited, and Chinese enterprises are facing high pressure on safety and environmental protection production. Recently, the feed industry has ushered in a wave of “price rise tide”. The price per ton has increased by 50 yuan to 100 yuan. Evonik has also increased the quotation of methionine to 22 yuan / kg. On the demand side, with the recent rise in the price of poultry products, farmers regain confidence and actively invest in poultry breeding, which is expected to further boost the demand for methionine.
In terms of industry, at present, Bluestar Adisseo Company(600299) , Zhejiang Nhu Company Ltd(002001) , Sichuan Hebang Biotechnology Co.Ltd(603077) among A-share listed companies have methionine business. Among them, Bluestar Adisseo Company(600299) has the largest production capacity and is the second largest methionine producer in the world. On December 2 this year, Bluestar Adisseo Company(600299) rodimi AT88 launched a new batch of products, and the output of Bluestar Adisseo Company(600299) liquid methionine in China reached 1 million tons. In terms of Sichuan Hebang Biotechnology Co.Ltd(603077) , the company plans to have a methionine production capacity of about 70000 tons / year, which is currently in the trial production stage.
According to the Bluestar Adisseo Company(600299) performance report, the revenue of its functional products (methionine and vitamins) in the first three quarters of 2021 was 6.558 billion yuan, the gross profit margin was about 35%, and the sales volume of liquid methionine increased by 11%. The company said that strong market demand led to strong sales growth of liquid methionine in most regions of the world, including Asia, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The recent strong price of methionine partially offset the adverse impact of the rise in the cost of main raw materials.
According to the data of Zhejiang Nhu Company Ltd(002001) , the revenue of nutrition products (vitamin E, methionine, etc.) of the company in the first half of this year was 5.452 billion yuan, with a gross profit margin of about 52.07%, of which the sales of methionine products increased.
Zhejiang Nhu Company Ltd(002001) said in the investor exchange that the scale of the global methionine market keeps growing steadily every year, and factors such as intensified competition within the industry, changes in downstream demand, expansion of production capacity of existing manufacturers and addition of new competitors will also affect the balance of supply and demand. From the industry experience, the new large-scale methionine plant needs huge capital investment, and the planning and construction time needs a certain time. At present, the methionine market is in good supply.
(Securities Times · e company)
