Degussa coatings project underway

22 November 2004 00:02  [Source: ACN]

DEGUSSA has started work on a polyester coatings project in Caojing, Shanghai, China, which is to be pursued by the company’s coatings and colourants units.

A member of its board of management, Alfred Oberholz, told ACN that the US$12m project was scheduled to achieve mechanical completion in October 2005 and commercial production at the beginning of 2006.

The project, which will cater to the needs of the Chinese coatings industry, is the first facility to be built at Degussa’s new multi-user site in Caojing. Its capacity was not immediately available.

An agreement on the site was signed last month between Degussa and the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP) authorities. Degussa’s various business units will occupy 600 000 m² of space in the SCIP.

Oberholz also said the company was in talks on 22 projects in China; some were investments, others acquisitions. He expected more projects in the coming months.

He reaffirmed Degussa’s commitment to a strong presence in China through investments and research and development (R&D). The company launched an R&D centre in Xinzhuang, Shanghai, earlier this year.

‘Degussa spends Euro800m (US$1036m) annually on a global basis on investments,’ he said. ‘We are committed to spending a minimum of Euro100m a year in China.’

The company said earlier that it aimed to have 25% of its overall sales generated from Asia, with China playing a major role.

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