Massive in Mumbai

The fourth Chemspec India, jointly organised by DMG World Media, Chemical Weekly and YA TradeFair, took place at the NSE Goregaon in Mumbai on 9-10 April 2008. About 250 exhibitors, occupying a total net floor space of some 5,000 m², were present.

As ever, the show was very well attended by visitors from all over the world. During Day One, about 5,500 people had passed through the doors as both visitors and stand personnel. By closing time on Day Two, the total hit 9,000, marking a more than 10% increase on the numbers at the 2007 event.

Chemspec India took place as Indian firms began to return en masse to acquisitions in the developed world, after a lull since the mass of acquisitions in 2005-6. Shortly beforehand, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories had acquired the UK sites of Dowpharma (SCM, April 2008, page 9).

Meanwhile, Indian bulk drugs maker Shilpa Medicare completed the acquisition of Austria’s Loba Feinchemie, which supplies custom synthesis and GMP manufacture of APIs, plus organic intermediates and biochemical diagnostics, via a subsidiary in Cyprus. This had originally been agreed in October 2007.

During the week of the show itself, exhibitor Jubilant Organosys bought Draxis Health of Canada for $255 million. This, added to its purchase of sterile injectables producer Hollister-Stier last year, will give it a much strengthened position in contract manufacturing in North America, particularly in non-sterile products and radiopharmaceuticals.

Many international giants of the chemicals industry were represented at Chemspec India 2009, either directly or via their Indian office. Exhibitors, international and Indian, were almost unanimous in their enthusiasm for the show, many citing a high quality and diversity of visitors. Some were simply rushed off their feet throughout.

Mohan Golam, marketing manager for diols and polyols at BASF India, said: “The first day was excellent, we saw a lot of people covering the whole range of our products and almost all were chemicals industry-related, which is not always the case at events like this.”

The company stand, which was right by the entrance, remained busy throughout. As a very large diversified group, BASF brought a lot of its businesses to Chemspec India, with pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and coatings prominent among them. Golam agreed that it was seeing visitors from all those areas, as well as dyes, fragrances, general intermediates and others.

Rhodia also returned, as an exhibitor and also via its Indian arm. Mike Harrison, global business director for Rhodia Novecare, a first-time attendee from the UK, said that the show “looked vibrant” and that all of his Indian colleagues were very busy.

The company was seeing many visitors interested in its range of organophosphorus chemistry capabilities in pharmaceuticals, water treatment and others, plus its many other products. “It is always good to come to a show and find some new openings, which we have done,” Harrison said.

Silicones giant Dow Corning was present to market its range of services in construction and automotive applications, the life sciences, paper and processing, which covers the full gamut of industries. A company executive said that the stand had seen many existing and potential new clients, notably in coatings, agrochemicals, textiles and personal care. “It is always a good show for Dow Corning,” he said.

Shortly before Chemspec India, Connect Chemicals acquired its first European production site, a former Agfa Chemical site called A&O Imaging Solutions producing speciality chemicals and pharmaceutical ingredients at Vaihigen, Germany. Previously, its production network was entirely located in China. Naturally, the new facility’s capabilities, notably in the formulation of biocides, were emphasised.

Xavier Sémery, sales manager of Connect Chemicals France, commented that the stand was less busy than in 2007 but the quality of visitors was better overall this year. “There are a lot of people here who really want to work and not so many traders as there were before,” he said. Industrial and institutional cleaning and water treatment were prominent among the industries represented by visitors.

As ever, Molekula took one of the largest stands at Chemspec India. Samith Bajaj, division manager for research products, said that the show had fulfilled its function in delivering a large number of new leads, particularly from the Indian CRAMS sector and others seeking to source or supply laboratory chemicals, including the local pharmaceuticals industry

A number of smaller internationals were also present as exhibitors. Organophosphorus chemistry specialist Digital Specialty Chemicals was returning from before, as it is now focusing its Indian strategy on direct sales. Dr William Stibbs, director of marketing, said that the company was mainly seeing pharmaceuticals industry customers.

Neil Hamilton, a senior sales executive at UK-based Apollo Scientific called Chemspec India “pretty phenomenal, really”. The company was seeing a large number of both suppliers and visitors, generally of a higher quality than in 2006, and the stand and was extremely busy, despite being right at the back of the hall.

“We would have settled for the level of enquiries we got on the first day to have been spread over two. This all shows the power of the Indian market – you cannot just sit back and wait, you have to go out and embrace it,” said Hamilton.

Apollo is best known as a catalogue company and it does come in part to source suppliers, but it has recently been expanding its laboratories in the UK and is looking for customers in India. It also hopes to have a base of some sort in the Indian market within two years, Hamilton added, probably stating with an agent.

The US Pharmacopeia returned after a year’s hiatus. Customer relationship manager Ashok Dang said that he had been quite busy, though not as much as in the phenomenally well attended 2006 show, and that the agency will probably come again. About 60% of those coming by the stand were decision makers.

Equipment suppliers there included Müller Verpackungen, a German producer of packaging systems. Board member Christer Almgard, who manned the stand alone, said towards the end of the show: “It has been crazy, really good – there have been a lot of enquiries.”

Another was Hielscher, a German supplier of ultrasound technology, which was located with its agent for India, DKSH. Newly appointed area sales manager Marc Junge remarked that the decision to exhibit was made in part because the company CEO aims for India to be its second largest market after the US within two to three years.

The company sees strong potential for one of its applications in the catalytic transesterification of aryl feedstocks for biofuel. India is a challenging market, Junge said, because of import restrictions on machinery and the usual cost issue. However, Hielscher was seeing real interest at the stand.

Among the leading Indian producers, United Phosphorus was present again. Sanjay Singhania, vice-president of marketing, thought that the international presence was slightly down but added: “There has been a very good response from India. We are seeing people from all over the country, north, south, east and west.”

Nitesh Mehta, a founder and director of green chemistry firm Newreka, commented at the end: “It has been so amazing. I think this has been the best Chemspec India so far in terms of quality of visitors. There has been no beating about the bush, it is all real business.”

I-Chess, a supplier of contract manufacturing services, was present on its own stand for the first time. Director Christopher Blümel, who originally came to India with Lanxess, said: “We are definitely very happy, we have been very busy. I barely left the stand for ten minutes on the first day, I was so heavily booked up for meetings.”

The stand was seeing a wide diversity of visitors and the quality was very high, added Blümel. They include people from pharmaceuticals, pigments, dyestuffs and catalogue firms, among many others. I-Chess’s partner, REACH ChemAdvice, was another major pull for visitors.

As ever, there was a strong Chinese representation in a market that is increasingly important to Chinese raw materials suppliers. Most of the Chinese firms were grouped in officially organised pavilions but some of the larger players struck out on their own and were also very pleased with the results.

Yvonne Wang, vice general manager of Sinochem Jiangsu, said that the company always does well at Chemspec and Chemspec India 2008 had gone very well. After more than ten years of business here – it was one of the first Chinese companies to try the market - India is the firm’s third largest market after the US and Europe.

Meanwhile, Dr Liu Jian Ping, general manager of Sinochem Shanghai, observed that India is a very big market for the company, even though the range it sells here is not so vast. For this reason, Sinochem Shanghai sends someone from each of its export departments to the show.

“We have been seeing mainly customers from pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and intermediates, though also dyestuffs, at out stand and after it finishes we have a meeting with a big chemical company lined up. We do get a lot of business from this show, so we will come again next year,” he said.

As a result of customer feedback, DMG World Media announced that Chemspec India 2009, also in Mumbai, will be extended to three days, on 15-17 April 2009. As ever, it will be located alongside the Chemical Weekly Business Outlook Conference, which this year brought in a record 170 delegates. About 2,000 m² of floor space have already been sold.

Another factor making a difference next year is that the show will not clash with CPhI Japan, which forced some companies to make a choice between them in 2008. In 2009, CPhI Japan will take place in the week after Chemspec India.

 

Return to the homepage