Borouge to invest in automotive market with new compounding facility in China
Borouge announced that it plans to develop a compounding facility in China for the manufacture of high performance polypropylene compounds for applications in the automotive and electrical appliance sectors. The new compounding facility will be constructed in the Shanghai area and will have an annual capacity of up to 50,000 tonnes with further expansion possibility. It will be strategically located to take advantage of the supply of Borstar® polypropylene from its production plant in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi through an advanced logistics concept and to serve current customers such as VW, GM and PSA in China, future customers in China and other Asian and Middle East markets.
The new site complements Borouge 2, the major expansion of Borouge's production facilities in Ruwais which will triple its annual capacity to two million tonnes of polyolefins and enable the production for the first time of polypropylene matrix materials. The increased capacity is expected to come on-stream in 2010, in parallel to the start-up of the new polymerisation units in the Borouge 2 project. It also complements the development of Borouge and Borealis' network of Innovation Centres focused on customer applications. Borealis is together with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) a co-owner of Borouge and already markets its high value polyolefins to the automotive markets in Asia through Borouge.
By locating this new facility in China, Borouge expects to take further advantage of the country's status as the world's fastest growing automotive market and its drive to become the biggest car producer in the world within the next 10 years. Borouge's investment in Shanghai, which builds on the know- how of Borealis' European and Brazilian compounding assets, underlines the company's commitment to serve the automotive and electrical appliance sectors.
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