Because of the similarity in usage of API and raw material, there is often confusion between the two terms. What's the difference? Raw materials are the compounds used as the basis for manufacturing APIs. We purchase raw materials from Japanese and international manufacturers of raw materials or chemical products. When using raw materials, as an API manufacturer, we produce APIs in large reactors at our plants. APIs are not made by just one reaction of raw materials, but by a variety of compounds that become APIs. the compounds that are being transformed from raw materials into APIs are called intermediates. Among the APIs we produce, there is one API that goes through more than a dozen intermediates in a single process to change from raw material to API.