India’s Supreme Petrochem to start up new ABS unit in Apr-June

MUMBAI (ICIS)–India’s Supreme Petrochem Ltd (SPL) expects to commission the first phase of its 70,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plant in Nagothane in April-June, a company source said on Wednesday.

Another 70,000 tonne/year ABS unit will be added at the site in the western Maharashtra state, in the second phase of the project, the source said.

SPL expects the two phases to cost Indian rupees (Rs) 8.5 billion ($98 million), when the project was announced in 2023.

“Mechanical completion of the first phase of our mass ABS project is expected by end of March 2025 and commissioning is scheduled for the first quarter of financial year 2025-26,” the source said.

The company’s fiscal year begins in April.

“There is an available market for domestically manufactured product,” the source said, citing that “nearly over 50% of the country’s ABS requirement or around 140,000 tonnes, is currently being imported”.

Separately, the company plans to invest Rs8 billion to build a greenfield petrochemical complex at Karnal in the northern Haryana state.

It plans to build a 100,000 tonne/year polystyrene (PS) unit and a 50,000 tonne/year expandable PS (EPS) unit, along with downstream products such as including 3D panels, PS sheeting, extruded PS, among others.

“Pre-project activities for that site are going on right now,” the source said.

“The new projects will meet increased demand for PS and EPS in domestic and export markets in the years ahead,” he added.

SPL can produce more than 300,000 tonnes/year of PS; 118,000 tonnes/year of EPS and other downstream products at its two facilities at Nagothane in Maharashtra; and Manali in the southern Tamil Nadu state, according to the company’s website.

($1 = Rs87.13)