Lanxess grows in China

From 2006, the chemicals group

will launch production of high-tech engineering plastics in

. The Semi Crystalline Products business unit (SCP) is investing €20 million in new production facilities at the

site to produce high-tech plastics, creating up to 100 new jobs.

“Demand in China for high-tech plastics is growing at a double-digit percentage rate each year,” said Dr. Axel C. Heitmann, Chairman of the Board of Management of Lanxess, in Shanghai. “Thanks to the new plant, we’ll be increasing sales of our high-performance polymers Durethan and Pocan by 50 percent in the next five years.”

Approximately 20,000 tons of Pocan and Durethan will be produced each year at the Lanxess Wuxi Chemicals site, roughly 120 kilometres north-west of Shanghai, once the first section of the plant has been commissioned in 2006.

Market growth for Pocan and Durethan in Asia currently stands at around eight percent, and in China at 13 percent. High-tech engineering plastics are used in the automotive industry, electrical engineering, electronics and the domestic sector.