China: RAG's subsidiary Degussa constructs methacrylate Verbund production

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Degussa AG, Dusseldorf, plans to construct a major Verbund production (integrated production network) in Shanghai to manufacture methyl methacrylate (MMA) and methacrylate specialties. The Degussa Supervisory Board has now given the go-ahead for this facility to be constructed. The investment volume for the entire plant including all intermediates is around 250 million euros, making it Degussa’s second-largest single investment. The world-scale facility is scheduled to come on stream in 2009 on completion of the construction phase, which should last approximately two years.  
 

Dr. Klaus Engel, Chairman of the Board of Management of Degussa AG and Member of the Board of Management of RAG Aktiengesellschaft, comments: “The new MMA Verbund facility in China underscores our global growth strategy. We see an attractive market development in Asia, and this investment reinforces our position as one of the world’s leading methacrylate producers.”

Once all the approvals have been obtained from the Chinese authorities, Degussa will construct an MMA facility with an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes, which will practically all be processed into highly-refined methacrylate specialties and polymers. These are components used in a wide variety of products, such as LCD screens, scratch-proof paints, top-quality adhesives, modern interior trims for cars and numerous plastics applications.

The facility will be built at Degussa’s multi-user site at Shanghai Chemical Industry Park Development Ltd., (SCIP), where the world’s leading specialty chemicals company has already established several new operations. In June 2006, for example, a polyester and a colorants plant came on stream at the site. In view of the upcoming construction of the MMA Verbund production, Degussa secured SCIP’s collaboration through a further cooperation agreement in September 2006.

Degussa regards China as one of the driving forces of global economic growth, and as such intends to increase its business in this attractive growth region to around 800 million euros within three years. In fiscal year 2005 more than 2,200 employees generated sales of 275 million euros, based on continuing operations. In the first nine months of this year Degussa increased its sales in China by more than 50 percent over the same period the previous year.

Degussa has been producing specialty chemical products in China since the early nineties, with wide-ranging trading relations already in place prior to this. The Group now owns more than 18 companies in the country, with production sites in Anqiu, Changchun, Jining, Liaoyang, Nanning, Nanping, Qingdao, Rizhao, Shanghai and Yingkou. Its broad product portfolio – comprising precipitated silica, carbon blacks, rubber silanes, amino acids, polyurethane foam additives, coating polyesters, pigment pastes, color tinting systems, high-performance plastics and initiators for plastics manufacture – caters for customers in China and throughout the whole of Asia.

Images are available here.

Degussa - a wholly owned subsidiary of the RAG Group - is the global market leader in specialty chemicals. Our business is creating essentials - innovative products and system solutions that make indispensable contributions to our customers’ success. In fiscal 2005 around 44,000 employees worldwide generated sales of 11.8 billion euros and operating profits (EBIT) of 940 million euros.