Years of fusion rumours in the People’s Republic have finally come to fruition with the merger of the two major government-run companies Sinochem (Beijing / China; www.sinochem.com) and China National Chemical (ChemChina; Beijing / China; www.chemchina.com.cn). US news service Bloomberg reported that the new entity will have annual sales of USD 145 bn (EUR 129 bn), an amount more than double 2019’s turnover at leading German chemical supplier BASF (Ludwigshafen; www.basf.com).

Plastics interests from the two partners are to be combined, according to media reports. Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net) says ChemChina has plants that make BDO, butadiene, ethylene, EPS, PBT, PC, PE, phenol, POM, propylene, PVC, styrene und TDI. Additionally, in 2016 the company acquired German plastics processing machine supplier KraussMaffei (KM, Munich; www.kraussmaffei.com) – see Plasteurope.com 04.05.2016.

Sinochem controls Chinese PP plants and is about to begin production of ethylene, propylene and styrene. Furthermore, the company owns Spanish ABS manufacturer Elix (Tarragona; www.elix-polymers.com) – see Plasteurope.com 14.01.2019.

The main business of the new conglomerate will be in agricultural chemicals following the merger of the companies’ divisions in the spring, and ChemChina purchased the Swiss supplier Syngenta in 2017.