InterviewLyondellBasell ups PP compounding capacity by 33%

17 April 2008 22:25  [Source: ICIS news]

By Chow Bee Lin

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--LyondellBasell plans to raise its global polypropylene compounding capacity by 33% to 1.2m tonnes/year by the end of next year to cater to rapidly growing automotive application markets, particularly in Asia, a senior executive said on Thursday.

“Passenger cars production is estimated to grow by an average of 5% each year in the Asia Pacific and by 13% in China and India in the next five years,” said LyondellBasell president of advanced polyolefins Paul Yeates.

He spoke on the sidelines of ChinaPlas, an annual plastics and rubber exhibition that runs from Thursday to Sunday.

“The unbelievable growth we are seeing in China, if you compare it with Europe or North America where the growth is more or less flat; then really we are seeing very strong growth in the Asia Pacific, in particular in China and India,” he said.

China will equal or slightly surpass Japan by 2012 in automobile production and India’s light vehicle production will more than double to more than 3m units in the next five years, he added.

LyondellBasell’s PP compounding expansion plans included raising its capacity in Rayong, Thailand by 40% to 25,000 tonne/year by the end of 2009 and entering the India market in the second half of next year, said Yeates.

Its new PP compounding plant in Guangzhou in south China is due to come on stream in September, adding to its capacities in Suzhou in east China, Japan, Malaysia and Australia, he said.

LyondellBasell’s advanced polyolefins business currently derives 5% of its revenues from Asia. It hopes to raise the contribution from Asia to 25%, said Yeates.

Its expansion plans outside of Asia include a new PP compounding plant in Mexico due to start up in June, he said, adding that there were also plans to double its compounding capacities in Brazil and Argentina in the next one to two years; set up a new joint venture facility in Russia by mid 2009 and establish a joint venture facility in Saudi Arabia with Saudi National Industrialization Co (Tasnee).

Tasnee and LyondellBasell already operate a joint venture PP resin plant in Saudi Arabia.

LyondellBasell was also evaluating the feasibility of producing in Asia advanced materials based on its Catalloy technology, which are good substitutes for acrylonitrile butadiene styrene in automotive applications, and polybutene-1 resins used in underground heating pipes, said Yeates.

Its Catalloy technology is currently applied at its US and Europe compounding plants. LyondellBasell currently produces polybutene-1 resins only in Holland, Yeates said.

For more on polypropylene visit ICIS Chemical Intelligence

Please visit ICIS Plants and Projects

Please visit ICIS Company Intelligence 

By: Chow Bee Lin
+65 6780 4359

< previous article(VIDEO - ICIS news Europe Lunchtime Bulletin 27 October 2009)

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly