Present Production Status and Market Analysis of Methionine


Methionine is one of the basic units for the protein formation.
It is the only sulfur-containing variety in indispensable amino
acids. Its addition into feed can promote the growth of livestock
and poultry, increase the amount of lean meat and shorten the
feeing cycle. The nutrition of 1kg methionine in animal feed is
equal to 50kg fish powder and the usual addition amount is 0.05
- 0.2%. As the excess fishing and the discharge of sewage and
industrial wastes into seas and oceans in the world in recent
years have caused a quick reduction of the fish output, the
output of fish powder as feed additive is not enough. The demand
of methionine has therefore made a drastic increase.
   The major process technology being used in the world today
for the commercial production of feed-grade methionine mainly
takes methyl mercaptan and acrylic aldehyde as raw materials.
Due to defects in scale, consumption and wastes, other
production processes can in no way compete with this process
technology. Propylene is used as raw material to produce acrylic
aldehyde, and further produce methionine. It is the major
technical route for the commercial production of methionine.


1. Present production
status in the globe


With the development of the compound feed industry in the world,
the methionine production has always maintained a great
development speed. The capacity of methionine in the world
reached around 800 000 t/a in 2004 and the output was around 600
000 tons.
   Major methionine producers include Degussa of Germany, Rhone
Poulenc of France, Novus of the United States, and Sumitomo
Chemical Pharmaceutical of Japan. The output in these large
producers accounts for around 90% of the world total. Degussa
of Germany is the only enterprise in the world that can produce
three main kinds of amino acids (methionine, lysine and
threonine) at the same time. Its capacity of chemical-process
methionine is around 220 000 t/a, holding the first place in the
world. Owing to the brisk market demand and the rising market
price in recent years, various producers have started to expand
their methionine capacity. Degussa also intends to construct a
methionine production line in Belgium. Sumitomo Chemical
Pharmaceutical of Japan plans to expand its methionine capacity
by 50 000 t/a to reach 90 000 t/a in 2005.


  2.   Present production
status in China


Enterprises in China have been actively engaged in the
development of methionine for many years. Owing to the need in
the development of the pharmaceutical industry, China started
to conduct research on the synthesis of methionine through the
chemical process. Hebei Pharmaceutical Factory constructed the
first synthetic methionine production unit in China in 1959.
Guangxi Nanning Only-time Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a
Chinese-foreign joint venture company, started the construction
of a methionine production line in Wumin, Nanning at the end of
2003. The project has a total investment of US$13.5 million and
a capacity of 400 t/a. Methionine it produced is however mainly
medical-grade variety.
   Constraints for the development of the methionine production
in China are mainly in technology and raw material. In terms of
technology, key issues include the increase of the reaction
yield, the execution of the environmental protection strategy,
the engineering of the production process and the continuous
running of the production unit. Besides, methionine production
processes with Chinese characteristics should also be developed
to shake off the yoke of foreign patents. In terms of raw material,
development courses of large methionine producers in foreign
countries all show that the production of methyl mercaptan and
acrylic aldehyde by methionine producers themselves is the most
effective way to reduce the production cost.
   China has more than a dozen methionine producers today
including Tianjin Methionine Plant, Hunan Changde Tongting
Pharmaceutical Factory, Shanghai Chemical Reagent Complex No.
3 Reagent Plant, Guangxi Nanning Plexiglass Plant, Tianjin Bohai
Chemical Co., Ltd. Tianjin Chemical Plant and Tianjin Hebei
Pharmaceutical Factory. The total capacity is around 30 000 t/a,
but the output is only around 10 000 tons. There is a very big
gap between domestic units and foreign units. Domestic units
have small production scale, mostly use the intermittent process
and have very low automatic control level. Due to problems in
process, environmental protection and hidden hazards in
production safety, the 10 000 t/a feed-grade methionine project
introduced by Tianjin Chemical Plant conducted protective
production suspension in March 2000.


   3.   Present market status
in China


The most important consumption market for methionine is the use
as feed additive. Owing to the rapid development of the
livestock/poultry raising sector in China in recent years, the
output of pork, eggs and livestock products already holds the
first place in the world and the output of poultry meat holds
the second place in the world. The rapid development of the
livestock/poultry raising sector has promoted the growth of the
feed industry. China has become the second biggest feed producer
in the world. The output of feed reached 93.0 million tons in
2004, only next to the United States and the output is still
increasing at an annual rate of 7 - 9%.
   In feed additives, amino acid varieties with the greatest
consumption are lysine and methionine. These two varieties
account for more than 90% of the total amino acid consumption
in feed additives. The output of feed-grade methionine in China
has been very small for long years. There are still no signs for
improvement in recent years. The output is much lower than the
market demand and the domestic demand has basically depended on
import. Due to the high production cost, products from existing
units are basically used as raw materials for the pharmaceutical
production.
   China imported 85 800 tons of methionine in 2004, an increase
of 17.8% over the previous year. Major import sources include
Japan, Belgium, the United States, Germany and France.
Methionine has always been the variety with the highest import
value in chemical drugs. The import value reached US$173 million
in 2004, an increase of 11.6% over the previous year.
   The average price of solid methionine in the domestic market
was RMB22.29 per kg in 2004, a drop of around 10.7% from the
previous year. The market price of solid methionine is
maintained at RMB20.5 - 21.3 per kg today.
   Due to the rapid market expansion and the fierce market
competition in China, foreign methionine producers have
intensified their sales in China. Degussa changed the name of
Degussa China Co., Ltd. (Hong Kong) into Degussa Hong Kong Co.,
Ltd. on Oct. 9, 2002 and set up Degussa (China) Investment Co.,
Ltd. in Beijing soon afterwards. Adisseo France S. A. S.
established a bonded warehouse in Shanghai two years ago. Novus
has also closed China Hong Kong Office in charge of Chinese
operations and established a trading company and a bonded
warehouse in Shanghai.
   It is expected that the demand of methionine, feed-grade
variety in particular, in the domestic market will still make
a co