Jan 21 2008
Specialty chemicals group LANXESS AG is to relocate production of rubber chemicals from Thane (Indian state of Maharastra) to Jhagadia in the state of Gujarat. Production will begin in two years at the same time as the launch of the new ion exchange resin plant of the Ion Exchange Resins business unit. From 2010 LANXESS will start supplying the rapidly growing Indian tire market with rubber chemicals from this modern site, the only western company with such operations in India. Overall, LANXESS is to invest some EUR 50 million in the new site.
In Jhagadia LANXESS will employ around 250 people during the first expansion stage. The head office of LANXESS India Private Limited will remain in Thane. Jhagadia will become LANXESS’s second production site in India after Madurai in southern India (Indian state of Tamil Nadu), and will be the bigger of the two. From here the Ion Exchange Resins business unit will supply products for the generation of ultra-pure water for the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries and for industrial water treatment.
The Ion Exchange Resins and Rubber Chemicals business units belong to the Performance Chemicals segment. In the third quarter of 2007 the segment developed solidly, achieving sales of EUR 1.514 billion between January and September 2007.
The Asia-Pacific region is of crucial significance for LANXESS. In the third quarter of 2007, sales in the region were up 2.2 percent on the previous year at EUR 325 million. Adjusted for currency effects and the activities divested in the previous year, sales advanced by a substantial 6.0 percent. This was due in part to the positive development in India, where LANXESS currently employs around 300 people. The Asia-Pacific region’s share of total sales rose from 18.8 percent to 19.1 percent. In the past India has posted strong economic figures. Its economic performance has grown on average by 8.6 percent annually over the past four years – only the Chinese economy has grown faster.