Chinese Supply Market Influencing European Chemical Industry

What are some of the factors influencing the supply and demand of different market to rapidly change? How to align your demand planning to such changes?

Investment into capacity over the past two decades has focused on emerging markets, predominantly China and India. The demand side has been volatile and increasingly global. Demand dynamics are influenced by macro drivers (GDP, feedstock prices etc.) and multiple factors at product level (new product introductions, technology shifts, end user market dynamics etc.). Demand planning needs to take into account all drivers at a short/medium and long term level. Scenario planning and service level differentiation can be some of the helpful tools.

What are some of the best case practices to predict changes in different markets?

Market and business intelligence (short/medium and long term) are key to any organisation to take informed decisions. Scenario planning and war gaming can be a helpful practice wherever faced with significant uncertainty.

Based on the recent changes in the Chinese supply market, what should the chemical industry in Europe do to lower the negative influences to the changes, and how can the industry capitalize in the changes?

There are only few market segments in the global chemical industry that are not directly or indirectly linked to the Chinese chemical industry. One critical success factor is to fully understand each relevant value chain, including upstream raw materials, supply/demand dynamics and the specific risk profile. This in combination with close monitoring of existing and emerging policies/legislation, as well as their enforcement enables companies develop effective risk management strategies.

Notker Bien is the Global Head Active Ingredient Procurement at Syngenta. All the chemical raw materials, intermediates and active ingredients for Syngenta`s Crop Protection business globally are in scope. Prior to his current assignment, Notker held a number of other roles in Syngenta (Supply Chain Management, Global Marketing, Asia Sourcing, Global Procurement). He holds a PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry.
Syngenta is a leading agricultural company with 28,000 people in over 90 countries.