Ningxia Jiafeng Chemicals sets sights on expansion

Ningxia Jiafeng Chemicals Co Ltd is rapidly consolidating its position in the global supply chain for a key diabetes drug ingredient, and the company anticipates a public listing, said its chairman in an interview with China Daily.

Shi Shaofeng, chairman of Jiafeng, said that the company now accounts for about half of China's metformin hydrochloride production and more than 30 percent of global supply — a scale that underscores China's growing leverage in essential pharmaceutical inputs.

The momentum is also part of broader efforts of Shizuishan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, in developing high-end pharmaceuticals, new materials, and other new quality productive forces.

Metformin hydrochloride is a widely prescribed medication for treating type 2 diabetes by lowering high blood sugar levels, reducing liver glucose production and improving insulin sensitivity.

"Orders are already saturated. Demand from domestic drugmakers and overseas clients continues to outstrip supply," said Shi.

Shi disclosed that Jiafeng is also preparing for an initial public offering without giving a timeline.

The company is targeting revenue of 5 billion yuan ($723.5 million) in the near term and aims to scale into a 10-billion-yuan enterprise. "We are moving from scale to quality, and from domestic substitution to global competition," Shi said.

The ramp-up of the company was not smooth. Early batches failed to meet the impurity thresholds required by top clients. It took 16 months of process refinement — including crystallization and separation techniques — to bring impurity levels close to zero, Shi said.

Jiafeng's global ambitions started two decades ago, when it exported raw materials to India, only to see them reprocessed and sold into Western markets at higher margins.

By 2012, the company pivoted to developing its own active pharmaceutical ingredients, with metformin as a breakthrough.

"After years of efforts, we are no longer just supplying intermediates. We are competing directly in regulated markets," he added. He said that Jiafeng invested roughly 150 million yuan to build what it said is the world's largest single metformin production line, with annual capacity of 10,000 metric tons.

Now, the company's flagship product has secured approvals from drug evaluators from China, Japan, Europe and United States, opening doors to tightly regulated markets.

Shi added that Jiafeng's rise is rooted in Northwest China's Shizuishan, long known as the world's "cyanamide capital", where a concentration of upstream materials has enabled rapid industrial scaling. Cyanamide is a chemical compound widely used in agriculture.

Beyond pharmaceuticals, Jiafeng is scaling up creatine production, a dietary supplement used in sports nutrition, where global demand has surged sixfold in recent years.

It is also expanding into battery materials, aiming to supply China's fast-growing electric vehicle and energy storage sectors. Shi said he expects the segment to become a meaningful revenue driver within three to five years.

For Shi, the ambition is simple — "We want to be a company people encounter everywhere — in medicines, in supplements and in new energy."