Anhui Jinhe Industrial Co., Ltd. (Anhui Jinhe), which is a main manufacturer of acesulfame-K in China, released its 2012 annual report on 23 April, 2013, showing that the revenue of acesulfame-K of the company decreased in 2012. In detail, though the total revenue of the company increased by 21.78% YoY to USD443.81 million in 2012, its net profit showed a downtrend at the same time, from USD29.66 million in 2011 to USD21.61 million in 2012. Moreover, its revenue and gross margin of acesulfame-K were USD26.41 million and 17.68% respectively, decreasing by 16.09% and 3.34% compared with those in 2011, according to Sweeteners China News issued by CCM in May.
It is worth mentioning that the expansion project of acesulfame-K of Anhui Jinhe with a capacity of 5,000t/a has been formally put into production in July 2012, but it is estimated that the project will not improve the competitiveness of acesulfame-K business of Anhui Jinhe in 2012. Combined with the existing capacity of 4,000t/a, Anhui Jinhe's total capacity of acesulfame-K has reached 9,000t/a in 2012. However, considering its revenue from acesulfame-K, there are reasons to believe that the operating rate of Anhui Jinhe's acesulfame-K production was at a low level in 2012, and its newly increased capacity of acesulfame-K became a burden to limit the development of the company in 2012.
Like other high intensity sweeteners (HIS), the export business is crucial to domestic acesulfame-K, and the export volume of acesulfame-K in China accounted for over 60% of its national output in 2011.
Actually, the demand for China's acesulfame-K from the overseas market increased a little, from 7,977 tonnes in 2011 to 8,069 tonnes in 2012. But according to the data from China Customs, the export volume of Anhui Jinhe's acesulfame-K decreased in 2012, which means that its competitiveness decreased. In detail, Anhui Jinhe exported 2,509 tonnes of acesulfame-K to the overseas market in 2012 while the figure was 2,598 tonnes in 2011. Compared with the export volume of Suzhou Hope Technology Co., Ltd. (Suzhou Hope), the largest acesulfame-K manufacturer in China with a capacity of 10,000t/a in 2011, it is more easy to see how poorly Anhui Jinhe, the second largest acesulfame-K manufacturer in China, performed in 2012. Export volume of acesulfame-K of Suzhou Hope increased from 3,416 tonnes in 2011 to 4,064 tonnes in 2012.
Worse still, it seemed that the "low price stragety" has little effects on improving the export volume of acesulfame-K of Anhui Jinhe in 2012. Compared with the one of Suzhou Hope (USD6.50/kg in 2012), the average export price of acesulfame-K of Anhui Jinhe was at a low level (USD5.90/kg in 2012). Even so, the export volume of acesulfame-K of Anhui Jinhe was still lower than Suzhou Hope, and decreased in 2012.
It is believed that the performance of acesulfame-K of Anhui Jinhe in China was also similar to the other domestic acesulfame-K manufacturers in 2012. According to a sales manager of Jiangsu Suzhou Peacock Food Additive Co., Ltd. (Jiangsu Peacock), one major acesulfame-K producer in China with a capacity of 1,500t/a in H1 2012, the Chinese economic downturn and the increasingly stringent regulation on food safety from the government in 2012 has made the demand grow slowly and finally led to the price decrease of acesulfame-K this year over 2011 (Note: the average ex-factory price of acesulfame decreased to USD8,480/t in 2012 from USD9,206/t in 2011). And the sales manager also declared that based on the slow growth of output, the revenue of acesulfame-K in the whole domestic market will not be satisfactory this year due to the decreasing price. Besides, Suzhou Hope admitted that because of the price decrease of the company's acesulfame-K in 2012, the company's revenue was negatively affected during 2012.
Contents of Sweeteners China News 1305:
Baolingbao's laboratory awarded as Provincial Key
QHT gives tortoise jelly as a present to shareholders
PureCircle holds recommendation meeting for stevia sweetener in Shanghai
Yishui County awarded as provincial production base of high-quality starch sugar
Xinfu Pharm continues to delay its trial operation of sucralose project until May
2012, a painful year for domestic crystalline glucose industry
Saccharin industry: opportunities and challenges coexist
Output of China's stevia sweetener experiences a dramatical decrease in 2010 - 2012
Chinese composite sweeteners have huge potential despite recent poor performance
Domestic sucralose industry performs well in 2012
Acesulfame-K of Anhui Jinhe performs poorly in 2012
Guilin Layn depends too much on stevia sweetener order from Cargill in 2012
Two leading functional sugar producers in China face positive catalysts respectively
Wanfu Biotechnology continues to suffer loss in 2012
Export overview of some sweeteners and raw materials in China, March 2013
Higher content of fructose, higher increase rate of export volume of starch sugar in 2012
Export analysis of China's xylitol and cyclamate in Q1 2013
Poor performance of domestic sucrose industry in Q1 2013
Ex-factory prices of Chinese sweeteners in April 2013
Sweeteners China News, issued by CCM on 5th every month, offers timely update and close follow-up of market and company dynamics based on China’s sweeteners industry. It also releases the latest information on raw material supply, price update, import & export analysis as well as consumption trend & competitiveness.
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