PolymerLatex completes start-up of new Malaysia NBR plant

LONDON (ICIS news)--PolymerLatex has completed the start-up phase of its new acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) plant in Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia, the German synthetic-latex producer said on Friday.

All production lines at the 100,000 tonne/year plant have started up, the company said. The plant produces PolymerLatex’s entire NBR product range for medical and examination gloves, it added.

PolymerLatex said that it expects the new plant to be able to support a 10% annual market growth in 2010 and 2011 before additional lines can come on line, as all required infrastructure was not yet installed.

“We are pleasantly surprised how smoothly the start-up went. Now we can switch production from our European plants to the new capacity in Malaysia, obtaining true local supplier status,” said Lars Wallstein, PolymerLatex's director of business unit specialties.

“However the relentless feedstock surge in Asia is a challenge. So we need to adopt pricing to recoup margins,” Wallstein added.

PolymerLatex added that it would increase prices for its NBR latex product range worldwide by $150/tonne (€104/tonne) wet, effective from 1 February, due to the ongoing escalation in costs for butadiene and acrylonitrile.

 ($1 = €0.69)