“I believe this is new not only to Amer but also to most Chinese lube suppliers,” Wang said. “We are simply not there yet. However, his question made me realize that we are facing a new era, and we are either in or out.”

Amer decided to jump in, highlighting the carbon footprint of its products, even though it means a lot of work. For example, to figure out its own products’ carbon footprint, it has to calculate each of its suppliers’ carbon footprints. The data must be put in a well- recognized system to give clients a credible number.

“Climate change brought many changes in the way we are doing business,” he said. “I see it as a ticket for Amer to enter a new market, to stay competitive in the future. This is an investment we have to make.”

Zhang Chenhui, a retired industry expert who hosted the side talk, agreed. He said when it comes to competition, companies are often prone to wage a price war.

“But competing against dirt-cheap, low-quality products will eventually get yourself eliminated in this fast advancing market,” he said.

Li Yanguo, president at Tianjin-based blender Sarlboro, concurred. He attributed the company’s ability to gain big clients to investments in research and development and production capacity during the pandemic.

“During the three years when many other blenders were busy cutting costs, we were scaling up our capacity, our product lines and R&D team to enhance our competitiveness,” he said. “This proved to be the right decision because it helped us attract high quality clients while eliminating the low quality ones we used to deal with.” The company now has an annual production capacity of about 300,000 tons, he noted.

“We hope to get more orders from foreign and domestic clients,” he said.

Shanghai-based additives maker Starry Chemical differentiated itself by sticking to its core strategy – developing high-performance single components.

“We are doing packages too, but single components is what makes us different from our competitors,” Starry General Manager Liu Gang said.

Differentiation is now a much pursued strategy for many Chinese companies. One of them is Hangzhou-based Youme Chemical, an ester supplier. Although the company’s current main clients are synthetic base oil blenders, it is also developing ester-based biodegradable solvents for use in production of compostable plastics, including bags, take-out containers and straws, hoping to land some clients in Europe.

“We are using our main business to nurture something more profitable with less competitors,” Xu Yudong, a Youme sales manager, told Lube Report during a coffee break at the event.