By Wan Zhihong (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-15 10:35

Ren Jianxin started his industrial cleaning business with a 10,000 yuan loan in 1984 and couldn't have imagined he would one day lead one of China's top chemical companies.

Ren, 50, was appointed president of China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) when the company was established in 2004. The company's assets and sales have both surpassed 100 billion yuan.

"In the past three years, our sales have seen 92 percent year-on-year growth and profits have risen 71 percent annually," Ren told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

"We have started 46 manufacturing facilities, this year we will see another 26 facilities come onstream," he said.

Along with PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC, ChemChina is one of the five largest companies in the country's petroleum and chemical sector.

Different from PetroChina and Sinopec, which have a big presence in the upstream business, oil and gas exploration and development, ChemChina will "focus on the development of new chemical materials and specialties", Ren said.

This is in line with the development of China's chemical industry. China has become the world's largest chemical products manufacturer, but in areas of chemical specialties and fine chemicals, Chinese enterprises still have a long way to go.

To catch up with foreign peers, Chinese companies should develop more advanced technologies, Ren said.

Analysts say the country's chemical industry will continue to witness fast development and will also see more consolidation in the next five years.

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