Olympic chemical restrictions worries industry

Tag : sodium acid sulfite

The Chinese government's drive to restrict the movement andmanufacture of chemicals ahead of the Beijing Olympics could hitthe country's chemical industry, analysts have warned.

The production and transport of potentially dangerous chemicalsaround Beijing and nearby cities have been restricted since May.The major chemical producing provinces in southeastern and southernChina have also begun monitoring chemical firms to ensure that theyare not supplying toxic or dangerous chemicals to unauthorisedbuyers in Beijing or other cities hosting Olympic events.

Only authorised firms or research institutions can produce,transport, sell or buy any of 257 chemicals on a list issued byChinese authorities. The list includes common reagents like aceticacid, ethanol and sodium sulfide.

Gao Guang, deputy director for logistics at ENN Chemicals inLangfang, near Beijing, says many of the chemicals on the list areimportant feedstocks for the industry and the restrictions couldmake them more expensive.

'To make things worse, the restrictions have come as prices formost chemicals are already soaring,' Gao says.
But Ye Yingmin, managing director of Beijing-based consulting firmChem1, thinks the impact of the restrictions will be small.'Beijing is not a major hub for the chemical industry in China, andthe only major chemical plants located here are those belonging toYanshan PetroChemical [a subsidiary of Sinopec]. However, in thepush to cut pollution before the Olympics, most of Yanshan's plantshave already been closed,' Ye says.

He adds that though the demand for chemicals in Beijing could dropas a result of the restrictions, the impact on the overall demandfor the whole of China's chemical sector is likely to benegligible. 'The only uncertainty is how much the transportrestrictions will affect other regions. If the transport ofchemicals via Beijing's suburban roads to outlying districts isalso curbed, then that could be a cause for concern,' Ye told Chemistry World .

Ye says that it's vital that the chemical industry is well preparedand, for instance, has arrangements in place for the manufacture ofintermediate products and equipment upgrades during the restrictionperiod.

Meanwhile, research institutes and universities have not beenseriously affected by the rules, as the chief chemicals supplier toacademic labs, Beijing Chemical Agents Co, is one of the approvedfirms.

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