CHINAPLAS ’12: Songwon to build polymer additives units in Mideast

20 April 2012 11:00  [Source: ICIS news]

SHANGHAI (ICIS)--South Korea-based Songwon Industrial Group plans to build two plants that will produce dust-free polymer additive packages called one-pack system (OPS) in the Middle East in 2013 and 2014, a company source said on Friday.

Construction of the first plant is expected to start in the second quarter in Bahrain, while the second OPS is due to be built in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in end-2014, said Philippe Schlaepfer, executive vice president for corporate development  at Songwon, at the 2012 Chinaplas exhibition.

He did not disclose the capacities of the proposed facilities.

“The Middle East region is the most important, and one of the biggest markets of [the] polymer industry. We also will plan some such facilities in China as well, but it needs time,” Schlaepfer said.

China has a 10% share in Songwon’s total revenue, he said. “We think that is not enough at all and we believe that our business in China will develop steadily,” he said.

Songwon now owns an OPS facility in Greiz, Germany, with a capacity of 7,000 tonnes/year, which will be doubled by the middle of this year.

Competitive pressure in the polymer industry, especially thermoplastics, is expected to remain strong, with the economics of investment remaining critical to fuel future growth both in the established and emerging markets, said Schlaepfer, who is a member of the Chinaplas Group executive committee.

The four-day 2012 Chinaplas exhibition at Shanghai will end on 21 April.

By: Dolly Wu
+65 6780 4359

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