A 46-year-old veteran polyester leader is now teetering on the edge of delisting. Sanfangxiang's 2025 annual report received an 'adverse opinion' from auditors and a negative opinion on internal controls, triggering a dual delisting risk warning. The company, once the second-largest PET bottle chip producer in China, has suffered cumulative losses of 1.628 billion yuan over three consecutive years since 2023, with a single-year loss of 885 million yuan in 2025. The widening losses reveal deep-rooted imbalances in the industry.
Overcapacity: A Supply-Demand Gap of 8 Million Tons
Sanfangxiang's plight is not an isolated case but a concentrated reflection of overcapacity in the PET bottle chip sector. Industry data shows that from 2023 to 2024, domestic PET bottle chip capacity was unleashed intensively, reaching over 20 million tons per year, while downstream demand stood at only 12 million tons. This 8-million-ton gap means more than one-third of capacity is idle or underutilized. Product price spreads have been compressed, virtually eliminating industry profit margins. As the second-largest player, Sanfangxiang acquired Hailun Chemical in a 7.35-billion-yuan 'snake-swallows-elephant' deal in 2020, shifting its focus to bottle-grade polyester chips and PTA, and then launched a massive expansion. But capacity growth did not bring profit; instead, it dragged the company into a loss-making quagmire.
Narrow Supply Chain: Reliance on PX as a Fatal Weakness
More critically, Sanfangxiang's supply chain is too thin. It only covers the link from PTA to PET bottle chips, with core raw material PX heavily dependent on external purchases. This model leaves the company with little control over upstream costs. Once PX prices rise, profits are squeezed. In 2025, the company's trading business revenue plummeted 59.97% year-on-year, directly reflecting weak downstream demand and cost uncertainty. In contrast, some integrated industry leaders have built cost moats by extending upstream into PX or even crude oil refining. Sanfangxiang's narrow structure leaves it with little buffer during industry downturns.
Debt and Guarantee Risks: The Sword of Damocles
Beyond operating losses, Sanfangxiang faces a chain reaction of overdue guarantees. As of the latest filing, cumulative overdue debts for which the company provided guarantees to subsidiaries reached 522 million yuan, accounting for 10.82% of the latest audited net assets. Among them, subsidiary Hailun Chemical defaulted on 25.6376 million yuan in rent payments to Taiping石化 Financial Leasing, backed by Sanfangxiang's irrevocable joint liability guarantee. More alarmingly, as of end-2025, the company's accounts receivable from related parties stood at 3.561 billion yuan, with only 107 million yuan in provision for bad debts. Auditors explicitly stated they could not obtain sufficient evidence to assess the recoverability of these amounts. The controlling shareholder's shares have been frozen; if disposed of, the company's actual control could change.
Government Intervention: A Glimmer of Hope?
In the second half of 2025, relevant national authorities convened a symposium with leading PTA and bottle chip enterprises to address 'involutionary' competition. Under this policy intervention, supply-side signals began to tighten. In Q1 2026, Sanfangxiang achieved a net profit of 32.7409 million yuan, turning around from a loss. Additionally, geopolitical tensions in the Strait of Hormuz led to a rebound in polyester chain product prices and improved margins. The company's stock price temporarily moved above the 1-yuan delisting threshold. However, in June 2026, Lianhe Credit Rating downgraded Sanfangxiang's long-term credit rating to A- with a negative outlook, indicating persistent market pessimism about its long-term solvency. Although the controlling shareholder's share auction was suspended due to execution objections, the risk remains.