Celanese to build emulsions plant in China

06 July 2005 10:39  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--Celanese said Wednesday it will build a vinyl acetate ethylene and conventional emulsion polymer plant in China.

The Dallas, Texas-based industrial chemicals group said it was in the final stages of selecting a site for the new plant which it planned to bring onstream in the first half of 2007.

Celanese said the plant would be of world-scale size but declined to quantify more precisely the planned production capacity. It would not comment on the expected investment cost.

Among the sites being considered is Nanjing, where Celanese is building a 600,000 tonne/year acetic acid plant for late 2006 or early 2007 start-up, and Shanghai. A decision on the location is expected within the next few months.

Celanese is also expected to make a decision soon on the location of a 20,000 tonne/year GUR ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) plant which its engineering polymers business Ticona plans to build in the Asia Pacific region. The GUR plant is due onstream by end 2007.

The emulsions plant will be Celanese's first such facility in China and its first investment in a major new emulsions production facility since it acquired the emulsions business of Switzerland's Clariant in 2002.

David Weidman, Celanese chief executive, commented: "We view this strategic decision as a significant milestone for our growing emulsions business. It is also consistent with our commitment to the Asia region - especially China - and our strategy of strengthening our product offering with higher-value products."

Celanese's global emulsions business, which include the Vinamul activities acquired from ICI earlier this year, has ten production facilities in Europe and North America. They serve a wide variety of markets, including paints and coatings, adhesives, non-wovens, glassfibre, construction, paper, and textiles.

By: Neil Sinclair
+44 20 8652 3214

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