China's polyester bottle chip industry is undergoing a brutal capacity shakeout. Sanfangxiang, a veteran polyester leader founded in 1980 and listed in 2003, now faces dual delisting risk warnings after its 2025 annual report received 'disclaimer of opinion' and 'internal control adverse opinion', making it a typical case of the sector's deep adjustment.
Overcapacity: The Turning Point from Profit to Massive Loss
Sanfangxiang's plight is not isolated. Public industry data shows that from 2023 to 2024, domestic polyester bottle chip capacity was released intensively, with total capacity exceeding 20 million tons per year, while market demand was only about 12 million tons per year—a supply-demand gap of 8 million tons. This severe mismatch directly led to shrinking product spreads and compressed corporate profits.
As the industry's second-largest producer, Sanfangxiang experienced a brief golden period after its 2020 'snake-swallowing-elephant' acquisition of Hailun Chemical, achieving net profits of 630 million yuan in 2021 and 818 million yuan in 2022. However, from 2023 onward, the company suffered three consecutive years of losses totaling 1.628 billion yuan, with 2025 alone recording a loss of 885 million yuan, a significant year-on-year expansion.
A deeper issue lies in the thinness of its industrial chain layout. Sanfangxiang only covers the PTA-to-polyester bottle chip segment, with core raw material PX heavily reliant on external purchases. When upstream PX prices rise, its weak cost control capability immediately exposes it to profit compression. In 2025, the company's trading business revenue fell 59.97% year-on-year, further confirming the decline of its core business competitiveness.
Debt and Governance: Multiple Risks at the Edge of Delisting
Beyond operating losses, Sanfangxiang faces severe debt and governance risks. As of the latest announcement, the company's overdue guarantee debts for subsidiaries reached 522 million yuan, accounting for 10.82% of the latest audited net assets. Among them, subsidiary Hailun Petrochemical had overdue rent payments of 25.6376 million yuan to Taiping石化 Financial Leasing, with the company as an irrevocable joint liability guarantor, forcing it to seek loan extensions and rollovers.
More concerning is the related-party transaction risk. By end-2025, the company's accounts receivable from related parties stood at 3.561 billion yuan, but accumulated bad debt provisions were only 107 million yuan. The auditor explicitly stated it could not obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence for the recoverability of these amounts. The controlling shareholder's shares have been judicially frozen; if judicial disposal proceeds, the company's actual control may change.
In June 2026, Lianhe Credit Rating downgraded Sanfangxiang's long-term credit rating to A- with a negative outlook, and downgraded its convertible bond rating to A-. These signals indicate the capital market's heightened alertness to its short-term solvency and going-concern ability.
Anti-Involution Policy: An Industry Turning Point May Have Arrived
Sanfangxiang's crisis is essentially a product of industry 'involution', and anti-involution policies are now bringing a turning point. In the second half of 2025, relevant national authorities convened a symposium with leading PTA and bottle chip enterprises to discuss industry operation and project progress. Against the backdrop of supply-demand mismatch and thin profits, this meeting was seen as an important step to prevent and resolve vicious competition.
Policy effects were already visible in Q1 2026. Sanfangxiang achieved a net profit of 32.7409 million yuan, turning profitable year-on-year. During the same period, geopolitical events like the Strait of Hormuz blockade caused polyester chain product prices to rebound significantly, improving industry profit margins. The company's stock price also recovered somewhat, temporarily moving above the 1-yuan delisting warning line.