GEA to Expand Market Share in China's PA Equipment Market   
-- Interview with GEA Luftkuehler General Manager Ms Xu Weidong   
By Wu Jun

This year is the 30th anniversary of the founding of China Phthalic Anhydride Industry Association. Over the past 30 years, China's phthalic anhydride (PA) production technologies have changed from the naphthalene process to the o-xylene process, the latter has been improved dramatically along with the continuous improvement in related catalysts and supporting equipment. As a professional equipment manufacturer, GEA Luftkuehler GmbH has constantly provided professional technical services to China's PA producers.


Q: When did GEA begin to enter China's PA production equipment market?

Ms Xu Weidong: From 1954 to now, GEA has designed and manufactured 1 441 sets of switch condensers for 138 customers in 45 countries worldwide. Our switch condensers have evolved for 8 generations. GEA has become a leader in the PA production equipment sector and also has been highly concerned about the sustainable development of the PA industry in the future.
   In 1986, Harbin Petrochemical Plant purchased from abroad a set of PA production equipment. This is China's first set of imported equipment used to produce PA from o-xylene. It was designed by DAVY Corporation with BASF's PA process technology. An important part of the equipment was GEA switch condensers. In 1989, Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical Co., Ltd. and Sinopec Jinling Petrochemical Co., Ltd. also subsequently imported the BASF PA production process, and GEA switch condensers were once again used by China's PA producers
    Prior to 2002, GEA switch condensers were brought into the Chinese market through BASF and Lurgi, two world-renowned PA process package suppliers. Since 2002, GEA has begun to independently deal with Chinese clients and sold its equipment to them. Up to now, China's several major PA producers, including Henan Qing'an Chemical Ltd., Shandong Qilu Plasticizers Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang Union Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Shanghai Coking Plant and Sinopec Zhenhai Taida Chemical Co., Ltd., have all become GEA's customers. Currently, there are eight PA production units under construction or planned to be built in China. They will all use GEA devices.


Q: How much proportion does the PA-related series equipment account for in the GEA's business? Does GEA consider developing or producing the PA-related series equipment in China?

Ms Xu Weidong:  The PA market is a very specialized market. The sales income of PA-related series equipment products accounts for less than 1/6 of our total revenue. The rest comes from the air-cooled products. However, because of the market specialization, even GEA has some competitors in the PA-related series equipment, GEA is still able to keep nearly 75% market share in this field.
   Currently, the R & D and manufacture of our core PA-related products are still made in Germany. The Chinese market is very important for GEA, but due to the specialization of the PA-related series products and the consideration of serving the global market, we will still be stick to the strategy of placing the R & D and manufacture of the core components in Germany and placing the manufacturing of casings and other non-core components in China.


Q: As an important supporting equipment supplier in the PA industry, what measures will GEA take to open up a wider market in China?

Ms Xu Weidong: For GEA, China's PA industry is a very important market. In the past five years, the Chinese PA market has developed very rapidly, and new PA production units have constantly been built in China. Meanwhile, in the past five years, China's PA industry has also gradually got rid of import dependency. It will likely export PA to other countries and even occupy the Southeast Asian market in the future. With the rapid development of the Chinese market in recent years, we have provided a wide range of equipment and technical services to Chinese enterprises in recent years. As a production equipment supplier, GEA hopes to keep pace with this wave of development heat. We hope that our equipment and services can get recognition from our customers.