Akzonobel Announces €45m Investment at Ningbo Plant

AkzoNobel has announced its intention to invest €45 million in a new Dicumyl Peroxide (DCP) plant at its Ningbo multi-site in China to meet a growing local, regional and global demand. Widely used as cross-linking agent for various polymers and copolymers, DCP can be found in a variety of products like shoe soles, cable insulation, and construction insulation.

The new facility will expand AkzoNobel Functional Chemicals’ DCP production capacity by more than 30 percent to 25,000 metric tons and allow for future expansion as the market continues grow. Expected to be completed by mid-2014, it will be the fifth plant built on the multi-site and benefit from the shared infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities.

According to Rob Frohn, Executive Committee member responsible for Specialty Chemicals: “The demand for our products is rapidly growing and by expanding and improving our facilities we will continue to meet our customers’ needs in China and around the world.”

Today’s announcement coincides with the inauguration of one of AkzoNobel’s other Ningbo plants, which also manufactures organic peroxides: Perkadox 14 (used for different types of rubber and thermoplastics) and Trigonox 101 (used for rheology control of polypropylene and synthetic rubbers).

The Ningbo site currently produces chelates, ethylene amines and ethylene oxide, in addition to the aforementioned projects. The total investment in the AkzoNobel’s Ningbo site announced to date is nearly €370 million.

AkzoNobel currently employs over 6,700 people in China, and its 2010 revenue totaled €1.3 billion. The majority of revenue is generated from local demand. The company’s ambition is to achieve revenue of $3 billion (RMB 20 billion) in China by 2015.

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