John J. Gallagher, executive vice-president and Asia president of Celanese, recently spoke with China Daily reporter Jin Jing in Shanghai about the company's business strategy in China and his perspective on China's acetyl market.

Q: What's your development strategy in China this year?

A: We will continue to expand in China this year. By 2010, our revenue in Asia will account for 45 to 55 percent of the global total, and the majority of which will come from China.

Our global revenue reached $6.4 billion last year. In China, we have three business segments: acetyl intermediates, consumer and industrial specialties, and advanced engineered materials.

Acetic acid and the downstream derivative products go to a number of applications, including paints, coatings and constructions. So as China is continuing to materialize and mature in economy, our products will be used widely.

Our Asian revenue is 28 percent of our total revenue, and we did not break down sales of China in particular. But our annual revenue of our Nanjing plant, which is the largest acetyl plant for Celanese globally, will be around $600 to $800 million by 2010.

Q: What's your production capacity here in China, and what measures will you take in face of the possible slow down of world economic growth?

A: Our annual production of acetic acid is 3 million tons globally, and 600,000 tons in China, which is equal to that of Singapore. All of our products produced here will be supplied to the Chinese domestic market. In addition, we also import a lot of products to meet our customers here.

The GDP growth in China is expected to be 8 percent this year. Usually, our company will exceed GDP by 1.5 percent, so the growth of Celanese is expected to be 9.5 percent in revenue. And our growth of sales in China is expected to exceed 10 percent.

We recognize that the global economy is slowing, and we are also concerned about the outcome of the global economy. But we still believe it is in the short-term. In the long term, we are very optimistic about China's economy and we will continue to invest in China.

Q: Can you elaborate on your recent investment in China, and why you opted to largely increase your investment in China this year?

A: We have collaborations with many domestic companies. We recently worked with Southwest Research and Design Institute of Chemical Industry, which is the leading Chinese research institute in the chemical industry. We know the best technology, and they know about Chinese investments in global projects, so our cooperation is sure to push our acetyl business forward.

For the complex in Nanjing, its total investment will be $300 to $350 million when it's fully operational. This is the most integrated chemical facility that Celanese has in the world. So we have all the things built around the one infrastructure. So this is the significant investment for us, and we are leveraging that investment by including everything together.

What I need to mention is that the $350 million is an investment for seven plants, all in Nanjing complex. Three of them are now running. Our focus in 2008 is that we will continue to invest to get the rest up and running.