GURE Gulf Resources Inc

Item 1. Business.

Introduction

We manufacture and trade bromine and crude salt, natural gas, manufacture and sell chemical products used in oil and gas field exploration, oil and gas distribution, oil field drilling, papermaking chemical agents, and manufacture and sell materials for human and animal antibiotics. To date, our products have been sold only within the People’s Republic of China. As used in this report, the terms "we," "our," "Company" and "Gulf Resources" refers to Gulf Resources, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, and the terms “ton” and “tons” refers to metric tons, in each case, unless otherwise stated or the context requires otherwise.  

The functional currency of the Company’s operating foreign subsidiaries is the Renminbi (“RMB”), which had an average exchange rate of $0.14811 and $0.15143 during fiscal years 2017 and 2018, respectively. The reporting currency of the Company is the United States dollar (“USD” or $”).

Our Corporate History

We were originally incorporated in Delaware and subsequently re-incorporated in Nevada. From November 1993 through August 2006, we were engaged in the business of owning, leasing and operating coin and debit card pay-per copy photocopy machines, fax machines, microfilm reader-printers and accessory equipment under the name “Diversifax, Inc.”. Due to the increased use of internet services, demand for our services declined sharply, and in August 2006, our Board of Directors decided to discontinue our operations.

Upper Class Group Limited, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in July 2006, acquired all the outstanding stock of Shouguang City Haoyuan Chemical Company Limited ("SCHC"), a company incorporated in Shouguang City, Shandong Province, the People's Republic of China (the “PRC”), in May 2005. At the time of the acquisition, members of the family of Mr. Ming Yang, our president and former chief executive officer, owned approximately 63.20% of the outstanding shares of Upper Class Group Limited. Since the ownership of Upper Class Group Limited and SCHC was then substantially the same, the acquisition was accounted for as a transaction between entities under common control, whereby Upper Class Group Limited recognized the assets and liabilities transferred at their carrying amounts.

 On December 12, 2006, our Company, then known as Diversifax, Inc., a public "shell" company, acquired Upper Class Group Limited and SCHC. Under the terms of the agreement, the stockholders of Upper Class Group Limited received 13,250,000 (restated for the 2-for-1 stock split in 2007 and the 1-for-4 stock split in 2009) shares of our voting common stock in exchange for all outstanding shares of Upper Class Group Limited. Members of the Yang family received approximately 62% of our common stock as a result of the acquisition. Under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, the share exchange is considered to be a capital transaction rather than a business combination. That is, the share exchange is equivalent to the issuance of stock by Upper Class Group Limited for the net assets of Gulf Resources, Inc., accompanied by a recapitalization, and is accounted for as a change in capital structure. Accordingly, the accounting for the share exchange is identical to that resulting from a reverse acquisition, except no goodwill is recorded. Under reverse takeover accounting, the post reverse acquisition comparative historical consolidated financial statements of the legal acquirer, Diversifax, Inc., are those of the legal acquiree, Upper Class Group Limited. Share and per share amounts stated have been retroactively adjusted to reflect the share exchange. On February 20, 2007, we changed our corporate name to Gulf Resources, Inc.

On February 5, 2007, we acquired Shouguang Yuxin Chemical Industry Co., Limited ("SYCI"), a company incorporated in the People's Republic of China. Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, the stockholders of SYCI received a total of 8,094,059 (restated for the 2-for-1 stock split in 2007 and the 1-for-4 stock split in 2009) shares of common stock of Gulf Resources, Inc. in exchange for all outstanding shares of SYCI's common stock. Simultaneously with the completion of the acquisition, a dividend of $2,550,000 was paid to the former stockholders of SYCI. At the time of the acquisition, approximately 49.1% of the outstanding shares of SYCI were owned by Ms. Yu, Mr. Yang’s wife, and the remaining 50.9% of the outstanding shares of SYCI were owned by SCHC, all of whose outstanding shares were owned by Mr. Yang and his wife. Since the ownership of Gulf Resources, Inc. and SYCI are substantially the same, the acquisition was accounted for as a transaction between entities under common control, whereby Gulf Resources, Inc. recognized the assets and liabilities of SYCI at their carrying amounts. Share and per share amounts have been retroactively adjusted to reflect the acquisition.

To satisfy certain ministerial requirements necessary to confirm certain government approvals required in connection with the acquisition of SCHC by Upper Class Group Limited, all of the equity interest of SCHC were transferred to a newly formed Hong Kong corporation named Hong Kong Jiaxing Industrial Limited (“Hong Kong Jiaxing”) all of the outstanding shares of which are owned by Upper Class Group Limited. The transfer of all of the equity interest of SCHC to Hong Kong Jiaxing received approval from the local State Administration of Industry and Commerce on December 10, 2007.

As a result of the transactions described above, our corporate structure is linear. That is Gulf Resources owns 100% of the outstanding shares of Upper Class Group Limited, which owns 100% of the outstanding shares of Hong Kong Jiaxing, which owns 100% of the outstanding shares of SCHC, which owns 100% of the outstanding shares of SYCI. Further, as a result of our acquisitions of SCHC and SYCI, our historical consolidated financial statements, as contained in our Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis, appearing elsewhere in the report, reflect the accounts of SCHC and SYCI.

On October 12, 2009, we completed a 1-for-4 reverse stock split of our common stock, such that for each four shares outstanding prior to the stock split there was one share outstanding after the reverse stock split. All shares of common stock referenced in this report have been adjusted to reflect the stock split figures. On October 27, 2009, our shares began trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “GFRE” and on June 30, 2011 we changed our ticker symbol to “GURE” to better reflect our corporate name.

On January 12, 2015, the Company and SCHC entered into an Equity Interest Transfer Agreement with Shouguang City Rongyuan Chemical Co., Ltd (“SCRC”) pursuant to which SCHC agreed to acquire SCRC and all rights, title and interest in and to all assets owned by SCRC, a leading manufacturer of materials for human and animal antibiotics in China and other parts of Asia.

On February 4, 2015 the Company closed the transactions contemplated by the agreement between the Company, SCHC and SCRC.

On the closing Date, the Company issued 7,268,011 shares of its common stock, par value $0.0005 per share (the “Shares”), at the closing market price of $1.84 per Share on the closing date to the four former equity owners of SCRC .The issuance of the Shares was exempt from registration pursuant to Regulation S of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. On the Closing Date, the Company entered into a lock-up agreement with the four former equity owners of SCRC. In accordance with the terms of the lock-up agreement, the shareholders agreed not to sell or transfer the Shares for five years from the date the stock certificates evidencing the Shares were issued.

The sellers of SCRC agreed as part of the purchase price to accept the Shares, based on a valuation of $2.00, which was a 73% premium to the price on the day the agreement was reached. For accounting purposes, the Shares were valued at $1.84, which was the closing price of our stock on the closing date of the agreement. The price difference between the original sale price of $2.00 and the $1.84 closing price of our stock on the closing date of the agreement is solely for accounting purposes. There has been no change in the number of shares issued.

On November 24, 2015, Gulf Resources, Inc., a Delaware corporation consummated a merger with and into its wholly-owned subsidiary, Gulf Resources, Inc., a Nevada corporation. As a result of the reincorporation, the Company is now a Nevada corporation.

On December 15, 2015, the Company registered a new subsidiary in the Sichuan Province of the PRC named Daying County Haoyuan Chemical Company Limited (“DCHC”) with registered capital of RMB50,000,000, and there was RMB13,848,730 capital contributed by SCHC as of December 31, 2018. DCHC was established to further explore and develop natural gas and brine resources (including bromine and crude salt) in China.

On September 2, 2016, the Company announced the planned merger of two of its 100% owned subsidiaries, ShouguanYuxin Chemical Co., Limited (“SYCI”) and ShouguanRongyuan Chemical Co., Ltd (“SCRC”). On March 24, 2017, the legal process of the merger was completed and SCRC was officially deregistered on March 28, 2017. The results of these two subsidiaries were reported under SYCI in the fiscal year 2018.

Our current corporate structure chart is set forth in the following diagram:

Our executive offices are located at Level 11, Vegetable Building, Industrial Park of the East in Shouguang City, Shandong Province, P.R.C. Our telephone number is +86 (536) 5670008. Our website address is www.gulfresourcesinc.com. The information contained on or accessed through our website is not intended to constitute and shall not be deemed to constitute part of this Form 10-K.

Closure and rectification process of our Bromine, Crude Salt and Chemical Products factories

On September 1, 2017, the Company received letters from the Yangkou County, Shouguang City government to each of its subsidiaries, Shouguang City Haoyuan Chemical Company Limited and Shouguang Yuxin Chemical Industry Co., Limited, which stated that in an effort to improve the safety and environmental protection management level of chemical enterprises, the plants are requested to immediately stop production and perform rectification and improvements in accordance with the country's new safety, environmental protection requirements. As a result, our facilities located were closed on September 1, 2017 to allow for rectification.

Subsequently, the Safety Supervision and Administration Department and the Environmental Protection Departments of the local government conducted inspections of every bromine production enterprise within its jurisdiction, in order to improve security, environmental protections, pollution, and safety.

The Company has been working closely with the county authorities to develop rectification plans for both its bromine and crude salt businesses and agreed on a rectification plan in October 2017. As part of the rectification plan, the Company has converted its bromine and crude salt factories from coal to electricity, installed computerized production monitoring and safety equipment, lined all of the salt ponds, paved roads, and performed some other upgrades. In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, the Company incurred $16,243,677 in the rectification and improvements of plant and equipment of the bromine and crude salt factories resulting in a cumulative amount of $34,182,329 incurred as of December 31, 2018 since the beginning. The Company has entered into contracts related to building new extraction wells for bromine facilities in the aggregate amount of approximately $40 million in which approximately $12 million was paid in 2018.

On November 24, 2017, the Company received a letter from the Government of Yangkou County, Shouguang City notifying the Company to relocate its two chemical production plants located in the second living area of the Qinghe Oil Extraction Plant to the Bohai Marine Fine Chemical Industrial Park (“Bohai Park”). This is because the two plants are located in a residential area and their production activities will impact the living environment of the residents. This is as result of the country’s effort to improve the development of the chemical industry, manage safe production and curb environmental pollution accidents effectively, and ensure the quality of living environment for residents. All chemical enterprises which do not comply with the requirements of the safety and environmental protection regulations will be ordered to shut down.

On September 21, 2018, the Company received a closing notice from the People's Government of Yangkou Town, Shouguang City informing it that its three bromine factories (Number 3, Number 4, and Number 11.) and not allowed to resume production and hence the Company has to demolish these factories. The crude salt fields surrounding these factories have been reclaimed as cultivated or construction land and hence did not meet the requirement for bromine and crude salt co-production set by the relevant authority. In closing these factories, the Company wrote off net book value of these factories’ property, plant and equipment in the amount of $18,644,473 in the loss on demolition of the factory in the consolidated statements of loss for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, recorded an impairment loss on the related mineral rights of these three factories of $1,284,832 included in the impairment of property, plant and equipment in the consolidated statements of loss for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 and wrote off $52,926 of prepaid land lease recorded in other operating loss in the consolidated statements of loss for fiscal year ended December 31, 2018. The Company incurred dismantling fee in the amount of $273,757 recorded in other operating loss in the consolidated statements of loss for fiscal year ended December 31, 2018. The Company will negotiate with the local villages over compensation for the payment already made for these land leases and mineral rights in the past. However, the Company is uncertain of the amount that it could recover and when this could be accomplished.

The Company has completed all the rectification and improvements in accordance with the government requirements, and we are currently waiting for any further notices from the government. We will still need to fulfill project approval, planning approval, land use rights approval and environmental protection assessment approval, by working closely with the local government.

Because many smaller producers have not had the capital to conduct the rectification required by the government, management believes there could be some extremely attractive acquisition opportunities in bromine. However, at the present time, all of management’s attention is focused on getting its facilities approved and in full production. Management may consider acquisition opportunities in this segment in the future if the prices were sufficiently attractive.

To date, we have secured the land for the chemical factory. The Company also completed the designing of the factory, just waiting for the final approval regarding environmental protection assessment As soon as it get the final approval,, Gulf will move ahead as quickly as possible to start the factory construction. It will start its production as early as it can with all the efforts. There was an impairment loss on the property, plant and equipment related to the relocation of our chemical plants to Bohai Park in the amount of $16,636,322, since much of the equipment that was used in the chemical factories was relatively old. Further, even if it had been newer, we believe that it might not have passed new environmental tests.  The total cost of building the new factory is currently estimated to be approximately $60 million. The Company incurred relocation costs in the amount of $10,925,081 and $9,732,118 as of December 31, 2018 and 2017.

In January 2017, the Company completed the first brine water and natural gas well field construction in Sichuan Province and announced the commencement of trial production. The Company has been working with Xinan Shiyou Daxue (Southwest Petroleum University) and developed a solution to DHCH’s technical drilling problem. In resolving the problem, the Company purchased customized equipment for its natural gas project. The installation of such equipment, including providing piping and electricity, was completed in July 2018. The Company has completed the test production at its first natural gas well in Sichuan Province and commenced trial production in January 2019.

As of December 31, 2018, the Company performed the qualitative assessment and determined that it is more likely than not that the fair value of its chemical segment is less than its carrying amount due to the uncertainty in the timing of receipt of the final approval of the design of the new factory, the uncertainty in the forecast of demand for chemical products which may be affected by China’s environmental protection policies and the time that the segment may need to build up the customer base to a level similar to the past. Considering these factors, the Company determined the fair value of its chemical segment based on the discounted cash flow model is less than the carrying amount of its chemical segment to the extent of the entire goodwill and recorded an impairment charge of $27,966,050 in the year ended December 31, 2018. 

We will continue to control the land and buildings where the old chemical factories are located. At this time, we have not considered how or if we can monetize those assets.

Our Business Segments

Our business operations are conducted in four segments, bromine, crude salt, chemical products, and natural gas.  We manufacture and trade bromine, crude salt and natural gas, and manufacture and sell chemical products used in oil and gas field exploration, oil and gas distribution, oil field drilling, papermaking chemical agents and manufacturer of materials for human and animal antibiotics.  We conduct all of our operations in China.

Bromine and Crude Salt

We manufacture and distribute bromine through our wholly-owned subsidiary, Shouguang City Haoyuan Chemical Company Limited, or SCHC.  Bromine (Br2) is a halogen element and it is a red volatile liquid at standard room temperature which has reactivity between chlorine and iodine. Elemental bromine is used to manufacture a wide variety of bromine compounds used in industry and agriculture. Bromine is also used to form intermediates in organic synthesis, which is somewhat preferable over iodine due to its lower cost.  Our bromine is commonly used in brominated flame retardants, fumigants, water purification compounds, dyes, medicines and disinfectants.

The extraction of bromine in the Shandong Province is limited by the Provincial Government to licensed operations.  We hold one such license.  As part of our business strategy, it is our plan to continue acquiring smaller scaled and unlicensed producers and to use our bromine to expand our downstream chemical operations.

Location of Production Sites

Our production sites are located in the Shandong Province in northeastern China. The productive formation (otherwise referred to as the “working region”), extends from latitude N 36°56’ to N 37°20’ and from longitude E 118°38’ to E 119°14’, in the north region of Shouguang city, from the Xiaoqing River of Shouguang city to the west of the Dan River, bordering on Hanting District in the east, from the main channel of “Leading the Yellow River to Supply Qingdao City Project” in the south to the coastline in the  north. The territory is classified as coastal alluvial – marine plain with an average height two to seven meters above the sea level. The terrain is relatively flat.

Geological background of this region

The Shandong Province working region is located to the east of Lubei Plain and on the south bank of Bohai Laizhou Bay. The geotectonic location bestrides on the North China Platte (I) and north three-level structure units, from west to east including individually the North China Depression, Luxi Plate, and Jiaobei Plate. Meanwhile, 4 V-level structure units including the Dongying Sag of Dongying Depression (IV) of North China Depression, the Buried Lifting Area of Guangrao, Niutou sag and Buried Lifting Area of Shuanghe and are all on two V-level structure units including Xiaying Buried Lifting Area of Weifang Depression (IV) of Luxi Plate and Chuangyi Sag, as well as on a V-level structure units of Jiaobei Buried Lifting Area of Jiaobei Plate.

Processing of Bromine

Natural brine is a complicated salt-water system, containing many ionic compositions in which different ions have close interdependent relationships and which can be reunited to form many dissolved soluble salts such as sodium chloride, potassium chloride, calcium sulfate, potassium sulfate and other similar soluble salts. The goal of natural brine processing is to separate and precipitate the soluble salts or ions away from the water.  Due to the differences in the physical and chemical characteristics of brine samples, the processing methods are varied, and can result in inconsistency of processing and varied technical performance for the different useful components from the natural brine.

Bromine is the first component extracted during the processing of natural brine. In natural brine, the bromine exists in the form of bromine sodium and bromine magnesium and other soluble salts.

The bromine production process is as follows:

Our production feeds include (i) natural brine; (ii) vitriol; (iii) chlorine; (iv) sulfur; and (v) coal.

Crude Salt

We also produce crude salt, which is produced from the evaporation of the wastewater after our bromine production process. Once the brine is returned to the surface and the bromine is removed, the remaining brine is pumped to on-site containing pools and then exposed to natural sunshine. This causes the water to evaporate from the brine, resulting in salt being left over afterwards. Crude salt is the principal material in alkali production as well as chlorine alkali production and is widely used in the chemical, food and beverage, and other industries.

Chemical Products

We produce chemical products through our wholly-owned subsidiary, Shouguang Yuxin Chemical Industry Company Limited, or SYCI.  At the present time, SYCI is closed pursuant to the letter from government dated on November 24, 2017. It will be relocated to Bohai Marine Fine Chemical Industry Park, Shouguang City. SYCI paid $9,732,118 for a 50-year lease of a piece of land for its new factories at Bohai Marine Fine Chemical Industrial Park in December, 2017 and leased another piece of land from the third party for its new chemical factory.

Historically, SYCI concentrated its efforts on the production and sale of chemical products that are used in oil and gas field exploration, oil and gas distribution, oil field drilling, papermaking chemical agents, inorganic chemicals and materials that are used for human and animal antibiotics. SYCI also engages in depth study of existing products and new product research and development at the same time. The annual production capacity for SYCI old factories of oil and gas field exploration products and related chemicals was over 26,000 tons,  its annual production capacity of papermaking-related chemical products was over 5,000 tons, and the annual production capacity of materials that are used for human and animal antibiotics was over 6,800 tons.

Sales and Marketing

We have an in-house sales staff of 19 persons. Our customers send their orders to us first.  Our in-house sales staff then attempts to satisfy these orders based on our actual production schedules and inventories on hand. Many of our customers have a long term relationship with us. We expect this to continue due to stable demand for mineral products, however, these relationships cannot be guaranteed in the future.

Principal Customers

We sell a substantial portion of our products to a limited number of PRC customers.  Our principal customers during 2018 were Shandong Morui Chemical Company Limited, Shandong Brother Technology Limited, and Shouguang Weidong Chemical Company Limited. We have ongoing policies in place to ensure that sales are made to customers who are credit-worthy. We have no accounts receivable for the year ended December 31, 2018.

During the year ended December 31, 2018, the net revenue for the bromine segment was $0 due to the closure of all of our plant and factories in order to perform rectification and improvement since September 1, 2017. During the year ended December 31, 2017, sales to our three largest bromine customers, based on net revenue from such customers, aggregated $17,950,659, or approximately 43% of total net revenue from sale of bromine; and sales to our largest customer represented approximately 19%, respectively, of total net revenue from the sale of bromine.

During each of the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, sales to our three largest crude salt customers, based on net revenue from such customers, aggregated $1,981,573 and $8,947,283, respectively, or approximately 100% and 100% of total net revenue from sale of crude salt; and sales to our largest customer represented approximately 39% and 42%, respectively, of total net revenue from the sale of crude salt.

During the year ended December 31, 2017, sales to our three largest chemical products customers, based on net revenue from such customers, aggregated $8,269,199, or approximately 15% of total net revenue from sale of chemical products; and sales to our largest customer represented approximately 6% of total net revenue from the sale of chemical products.

During the year ended December 31, 2018, there were limited chemical products for sale due to the closure of our chemical factories since September 1, 2017, we only sold limited chemical products and raw materials to our customers in the aggregate amount of $613,368.

Principal Suppliers

Our principal external suppliers are Shandong Xinlong Biological Technology Company Limited, Shouguang City Rongguang Trading Company Limited, Shandong Xinlong Group Company Limited, Shouguang Hongye Trading Company Limited and Zibo City Zichuan Fuli Chemical Raw Material Factory.

During the year ended December 31, 2018, we did not purchase any raw materials for our bromine and crude production. During the year ended December 31, 2017, we purchased 66% of raw materials for our bromine and crude production from our top three suppliers.

During the year ended December 31, 2018, we did not purchase any raw materials for chemical products production. During the year ended December 31, 2017, we purchased 55% of raw materials for our chemical products production from our top three suppliers. We purchased a portion of the bromine produced by the Company internally as well, totaling $6,305,642 for the years ended December 31, 2017 for the production of chemical products.

This supplier concentration makes us vulnerable to a near-term adverse impact, should the relationships be terminated.

Business Strategy

Expansion of Production Capacity to Meet Demand

▼ Bromine and Crude Salt

In view of keen competition and the trend of less bromine contraction of brine water being extracted in Shouguang City, Shandong Province, the Company had announced its intent to access more bromine and crude salt resources by finding new underground brine water resources in the Sichuan Province. The Company completed the drilling of its first exploratory well in December 2011 and announced in mid-January 2012 that the Company discovered underground brine water resources in Daying County. In September 2014, the Company started deeper drilling exploration under its existing well and did an exploration analysis on the resources from different levels. On January 30, 2015 we announced that we had found natural gas resources under our bromine well in the Sichuan area. On November 23, 2015 the company’s wholly owned subsidiary SCHC entered into an agreement with the People’s Government of Daying County in Sichuan Province for the exploration and development of natural gas and brine resources (including bromine and crude salt). In January 2017, the Company completed the first brine water and natural gas well field construction in Sichuan Province and announced the commencement of trial production. Then later on, the Company found some issues related to the water and other potential impurities in the natural gas during trial production. In resolving the problem, the Company purchased customized equipment for its natural gas project. The installation of such equipment, including providing piping and electricity, was completed in July 2018. The Company has completed the test production at its first natural gas well in Sichuan Province and has commenced trial production in January 2019.

On September 1, 2017, the Company received notification from the Government of Yangkou County, Shouguang City of PRC that production at all its factories be halted with immediate effect in order for the Company to perform rectification and improvement in accordance with the county’s new safety and environmental protection requirements.

The Company has been working closely with the County authorities to develop rectification plans for both its bromine and crude salt businesses and had agreed on a plan in October 2017. In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, the Company incurred $16,243,677 in the rectification and improvements of plant and equipment of the bromine and crude salt factories resulting in a cumulative amount of $34,182,329 incurred as of December 31, 2018.The Company has completed all the rectification and improvements in accordance with the government requirements, and we are currently waiting for any further notices from the government. We will still need to fulfill project approval, planning approval, land use rights approval and environmental protection assessment approval, by working closely with the local government.

In the fiscal of 2018, the Company incurred enhancement works in our crude salt field for our bromine and crude salt factories for the rectification and improvements at a cost of approximately $15.8 million. The Company built new extraction wells for bromine facilities at costs of approximately $17.8 million. The Company expects to build new extraction wells in 2019, which expects to incur capital expenditure of approximately $28 million..

▼ Chemical Products

On November 24, 2017, the Company received a letter from the Government of Yangkou County, Shouguang City notifying the Company to relocate its two chemical production plants located in the second living area of the Qinghe Oil Extraction Plant to the Bohai Marine Fine Chemical Industrial Park. This is because the two plants are located in a residential area and their production activities will impact the quality of the living environment of the residents. This is as a result of the country’s effort to improve the development of the chemical industry, manage safe production and curb environmental pollution accidents effectively, and ensure the quality of living environment of residents. All chemical enterprises which do not comply with the requirements of the safety and environmental protection regulations were ordered to shut down. The Company believes this relocation process will cost approximately $60 million in total. The Company incurred relocation costs in the amount of $10,925,081 which was capitalized in construction work in progress as of December 31, 2018.

Competition

To date, our sales have been limited to customers within the PRC and we expect that our sales will remain primarily domestic for the immediate future.  Our marketing strategy involves developing long term ongoing working relationships with customers based on large multi-year agreements which foster mutually advantageous relationships.

We compete with PRC domestic private companies and state-owned companies.  Certain state-owned and state backed competitors are more established and have more control of certain resources in terms of pricing than we do.  We compete in our business based on price, our reputation for quality and on-time delivery, our relationship with suppliers and our geographical proximity to natural brine deposits in the PRC for bromine, crude salt and chemical productions.  Management believes that our stable quality, manufacturing processes and plant capacity for the production of bromine, crude salt and chemical products are key considerations in awarding contracts in the PRC.

Our principal competitors in the bromine business are Shandong Yuyuan Group Company Limited, Shandong Haihua Group Company Limited, Shandong Dadi Salt Chemical Group Company Limited and Shandong Haiwang Chemical Company Limited, all of which produce bromine principally for use in their chemicals businesses and sell part of the bromine produced to customers. These companies may switch to selling bromine to the market if they no longer use bromine in their chemical businesses.

Our principal competitors in the crude salt business are Shandong Haiwang Chemical Company Limited, Shandong Haihua Group Company Limited, Shandong Weifang Longwei Industrial Company Limited, Shandong Yuyuan Group Company Limited and Shandong Caiyangzi Saltworks.

Our principal competitors in the chemical business are Beijing Shiji Zhongxing Energy Technology Co., Ltd, Yanan Chaozheng Nijiang Co., Ltd, Shandong Dacheng Pesticides Company Limited, Binhua Group Company Limited, Dongying City Dongchen (Group) Chemical Industry Company Limited, Beijing Peikangjiaye Technologies Limited, Shouguang Fukang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Shandong Xinhua Pharmaceutical Limited by Share Ltd, Hunan Erkang Pharmaceutical Limited by Share Ltd and Xinan Synthetic Pharmaceutical Limited by Share Ltd.

Government Regulation

China has begun to reinforce the environmental requirements for the entire chemical industry, demanding the closure or rectification of those factories that do not meet the emission requirements and are highly polluting. In early 2017, the government announced the closure or relocation of those chemical industry facilities that are close to residential areas and the new environmental law officially came into full effect in January 2018.

The following is a summary of the principal governmental laws and regulations that are or may be applicable to our operations in the PRC. The scope and enforcement of many of the laws and regulations described below are uncertain. We cannot predict the effect of further developments in the Chinese legal system, including the promulgation of new laws, changes to existing laws or the interpretation or enforcement of laws.

In the natural resources sector, the PRC and the various provinces have enacted a series of laws and regulations over the past 20 years, including laws and regulations designed to improve safety and decrease environmental degradation.  The "China Mineral Resources Law" declares state ownership of all mineral resources in the PRC.  However, mineral exploration rights can be purchased, sold and transferred to foreign owned companies. Mineral resource rights are granted by the Central Government permitting recipients to conduct mineral resource activities in a specific area during the license period. These rights entitle the licensee to undertake mineral resource activities and infrastructure and ancillary work, in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, within the specific area covered by the license during the license period. The licensee is required to submit a proposal and feasibility studies to the relevant authority and to pay the Central Government a natural resources tax in an amount equal to a percent of annual crude salt sales and tones of bromine sold. Shandong Province has determined that bromine is to be extracted only by licensed entities and we hold one of such licenses. Despite the province desire to limit extraction to licensed entities hundreds of smaller operations continue to extract bromine without licenses.

The Ministry of Land and Resources (“MLR”) is the principal regulator of mineral rights in China. The Ministry has authority to grant licenses for land-use and exploration rights, issue permits for mineral rights and leases, oversee the fees charged for them and their transfer, and review reserve evaluations. We are required to hold a bromine and salt production license in order to operate our bromine and salt production business in the PRC. Our bromine and salt production license is subject to a yearly audit. If we do not successfully pass the yearly approval by relevant government authorities, our bromine and salt production operations may be suspended until we are able to comply with the license requirements which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. 

Employees

As of December 31, 2018 we employed approximately 699 full-time employees, of whom approximately 64% are with SCHC and DCHC, and 35% are with SYCI. Approximately 6% of our employees are management personnel and 4% are sales and procurement staff. None of our employees are represented by a union.

Our employees in China participate in a state pension arrangement organized by Chinese municipal and provincial governments. We are required to contribute to the arrangement at the rate of 21% of the average monthly salary. In addition, we are required by Chinese law to cover employees in China with other types of social insurance. Our total contribution amounts to 33% of the average monthly salary. We have purchased social insurance for almost all of our employees. Expense related to social insurance was approximately $1,216,096 for fiscal year 2018.

Available Information

We make available free of charge on or through our internet website, www.gulfresourcesinc.com, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, including exhibits, and all amendments to those reports, if any, filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers like our Company that file electronically with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. The information contained on our website is not intended to be incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.