Manuli Stretch to expand at Dow’s Schkopau site in Germany

26 January 2010 15:17  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--Italy’s Manuli Stretch plans to expand its stretch film capacity at Dow Chemical’s Schkopau chemical park in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt state by 40,000 tonnes/year to 140,000 tonnes/year by 2012, the state’s economics ministry said on Tuesday.

The €21m ($30m) investment by the leading producer of stretch films would create an additional 31 jobs, bringing Manuli’s workforce at Schkopau to 175, the ministry said.

Overall, Manuli had a capacity of 270,000 tonnes/year from six production sites and held an 18% market share in Europe, the ministry said, citing company data.

Ulf Hamann, general manager for Manuli in Germany, said that secure raw material and energy supplies, as well as good transport connections were key factors in justifying the expansion at Schkopau.

German media reports said that Manuli's expansion would be partly financed by Saxony-Anhalt, but they did not disclose how much the state would contribute.

Last week, LANXESS said it would build a €30m membrane filtration facility at the nearby Bitterfeld chemical site in Saxony-Anhalt.

The two investment decisions showed that the state’s chemical park concept continued to be attractive for producers, economics minister Reiner Haseloff commented.

($1 = €0.71)

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