Th’ Gaussling has previously written on issues related to doing business with China.  The business climate in China resembles a gold rush in some ways. It is a Chinese Klondike bursting with optimism and strutting confidence.  Rather than streams full of gold nuggets, however, China’s hinterlands provide a bountiful stream of entry-level labor anxious for a chance for the good life in the city.

But just like other gold rush periods, a very few strike a rich vein, a larger minority make their fortunes on the miners, and the majority making up the big bulge in the bell curve labor like mules to energize production. Inevitably, some move from rural poor to urban poor. 

You can feel the glow of optimism radiating from the Asian land mass when you go shopping for products on the internet or at trade shows.  Entering a CASRN into Google will often bring back a collection of sites, often enough one in particular comes up first.  Chemexper is a site that presents a large list of suppliers for many compounds. However, the list is notably lacking in US suppliers, favoring those in Europe and Asia.  When sourcing non-commodity, specialty chemicals it is useful to have foreign supplier resources handy.

I’m not biased to foreign suppliers. I am admittedly biased toward US suppliers. However, sometimes entry to a piece of business requires rock bottom raw mat pricing, even in the specialty chemical market. You have to do what you have to do.  But to help maintain a strong US manufacturing base, US companies individually have to be competitive and strong.  If the US has trouble competing on the raw materials end, then it has no choice but to excel on the back end of the chain where the final assembly occurs.  It is not uncommon for specialty chemical companies to source outside the US to find bulk raw mats that domestic suppliers don’t want to offer at less-than-railcar levels.

We’re all familiar with Aldrich, Alfa Aesar, GFS, Strem, etc.  Sometimes you can justify going to a catalog company for bulk raw material or reagent.  But very often in scale-up the economics favor direct supply from the manufacturer.  While R&D level sourcing can almost always be done from US vendors, bulk supply is increasingly an international game [remember, Th’ Gaussling refers to the specialty chemical market]. International sourcing is an acquired skill.

Importers of chemicals must be wary of many pitfalls awaiting them. There are regulatory concerns and among them  TSCA is a big one.  Before you import a chemical, be sure to understand the TSCA ramifications.  However, TSCA is just the tip of the iceberg.

It pays to seek general business advice on this kind of activity.  If one has designs on a long term supply relationship, there is no substitute for a visit to the suppliers facility.  Reputable foreign manufacturers are there for the long term business and want a relationship with their customers.