Low-Tonnage Chemistry: Problems and Development Prospects. Interview with Irina Vendilo for the international business journal «Russian Business Guide»

Chemical products are categorized by production scale: high-tonnage chemistry deals with volumes over 150,000 tons per year, medium-tonnage – from 10,000 to 150,000 tons per year, while in Russia, low-tonnage chemistry typically includes products manufactured in volumes of up to 10,000 tons per year. Low-tonnage chemistry is one of the sectors most promising in terms of its contribution to GDP growth due to its high research intensity and global competitiveness. We discuss the industry’s development prospects with Irina Vendilo, General Director of the «Roshimreaktiv» Association, which brings together developers, manufacturers, and suppliers of chemical products, laboratory equipment, and instruments.

Tell us about the history of the Association’s establishment and development.

The Association was created more than 20 years ago, in 2001. One of the initiators of its creation was a scientist, an expert in low-tonnage and special chemistry, Honored Chemist Andrey Grigorievich Vendilo. Currently, the Association has 26 members located in five federal districts. These are scientific centers, as well as manufacturers and suppliers of special chemical products, low-tonnage chemicals, reagents, and laboratory equipment. Today, our Association also has two foreign participants: enterprises from Kazakhstan and Belarus.

What are the main areas of the Association’s activities?

The Association participates in congresses, forums, and assemblies, and organizes conferences, round tables, and seminars. A very important area is work on the expert assessment of aspects related to the functioning of state support measures. Thanks to our active work, we are always aware of the latest industry developments, changes in legislation, and new requirements for quality and standardization systems.
We are also constantly expanding the range of our capabilities as a public organization to represent the interests of our industry. For example, through membership in larger public associations. Thus, we have been members of the Russian Union of Chemists since June 2016, and I, as Vice-President of the RUC, oversee issues related to the production of low-tonnage and special chemistry, reagents, and high-purity substances. We also participate in the work of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the business association «Delovaya Rossia». We are in constant contact with the relevant department of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and other federal executive bodies, and we participate in shaping the program of the major industry exhibition «Chemistry» and the laboratory equipment exhibition «Analitika». Industry interests change from year to year; for example, issues of logistics, improving the efficiency of production enterprises, and industry automation and digitalization are now acute.

The Association represents the low-tonnage and special chemistry sector. What exactly is its specificity?

The production of qualification reagents and high-purity substances is a separate sub-sector of chemistry. Very high requirements are traditionally placed on reagents and other pure substances, their production is expensive, and the substances themselves are required in small quantities. Reagents are in demand for research in scientific and industrial laboratories, in pharmaceuticals, while high-purity substances are used in electronics and microelectronics, as well as in many other industries. Why are they expensive? Producing such products requires special conditions: highly qualified employees, special equipment resistant to thermal and chemical exposure, air filtration, as well as serious water treatment, the presence of cleanrooms, and special containers. Many LTCH manufacturing enterprises have their own production laboratories that ensure stable product quality. The competitiveness of many LTCH manufacturers is based on the breadth of the range of chemical products they produce, and rapid production launch requires serious scientific and technological support. Until the early 1990s, the country produced thousands of items of chemical substances in this spectrum; today, the order of these numbers is much smaller. Some productions were preserved, but in many areas we have fallen behind, and without state support, it is unlikely that the enterprises themselves will be able to catch up with foreign competitors, no matter what import substitution tasks are set for them. We talk about this, and it is good that the authorities hear us.

What hinders the development of this direction?

Enterprises in low-tonnage chemistry face common problems. These productions are science-intensive; significant resources are spent on developing and obtaining a new product: it is necessary to conduct research and development work, as well as testing, before implementing the product into production. This involves not only finances but also time. Furthermore, a major cost item is product certification and homologation. Moreover, creating a product is only half the battle. It also needs to be sold, and here market laws apply. Potential consumers have long been using imported products, and to convince them to switch to a domestic equivalent, it is necessary not only to achieve an attractive price-quality ratio but also to provide service support. This is difficult for an individual small or even medium-sized enterprise to do, especially when it comes to thousands of chemical products that the country and high-tech industries urgently need in a situation of severe sanctions pressure and broken supply chains.

But there are certainly positive examples of new product launches.

Yes. For example, despite the pandemic, the «EKOS-1» Group of Companies presented three new products for itself in recent years. These are methyl acetate of special purity 9-6, a product for laboratory research; tris-2-ethylhexyl ester of boric acid, used, among other things, for producing stabilizers for rubbers and plastics; and a range of products for the pharmaceutical industry. This was a major effort, especially in terms of obtaining permitting documentation. However, for a leap in industry development, there should not be one or two such products per year, but at least dozens of items.

How exactly can the state help “low-tonnage” enterprises?

First, conditions for R&D can be created in the form of subsidies, then permitting procedures can be simplified and certification timelines reduced. And finally, third – define preferences or benefits for consumers who switch to domestic products. Now many Russian companies are actively seeking cooperation with LTCH manufacturers, working directly on import substitution of specific foreign products. Thanks to joint efforts, some positive shifts have been achieved: the production of reagents and organic solvents was included in 2017 in the Russian Government’s «roadmap» for the development of low-tonnage chemistry until 2030.

An updated version of this «roadmap» is now being formed, and the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade is ready to listen to the expert opinion of representatives of the domestic chemical complex. Also, in early 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to increase production figures for low- and medium-tonnage chemistry by 30% by 2025 and by 70% by 2030. By the end of last year, the government prepared a document outlining priorities and constraints and compiled a list of priority products. Therefore, we hope that the industry will develop.