Wuhan Youji Industries Co., Ltd.

Wuhan Youji Holdings Limited manufactures toluene derivatives and is one of the longer established food additive producers in China. Its headquarters is in Wuhan, Hubei province, with two plants, one in Wuhan and one at Qianjiang.

The self-produced portfolio consists of five toluene oxidation products, two toluene chlorination products, two benzoic acid ammonification products and more than 20 other fine chemicals. Benzoic acid and sodium benzoate are the food preservative lines. Benzyl chloride and benzyl alcohol come from the chlorination route and go into fragrances, dyes, pharmaceuticals and resins. Benzonitrile and benzoguanamine are the ammonification products. Benzyl acetate is sold into flavours and fragrances. The four end markets are food preservatives, animal feed acidifiers, household chemicals, and agrochemical and pharmaceutical intermediates.

Citing Frost and Sullivan data for 2023, the company states that it is the largest manufacturer of benzoic acid and sodium benzoate in China and the second largest worldwide, and the second largest benzyl alcohol manufacturer in China and the third largest worldwide. Products are sold in more than 70 countries. The company helped draft the Chinese national food safety standards for benzoic acid and sodium benzoate in 2014 and the revision of the industrial benzyl chloride standard in 2016. It was named a Green Factory by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2018, ranked 65th on the China Top 100 fine chemical list in 2020 and 2021, and 63rd on the Hubei Top 100 private manufacturers list in 2022.