Feb 10 2011
Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) announced today that it has begun construction of a new black masterbatch plant at its Tianjin facility located in Tianjin Economic Development Area (TEDA) in China.
Cabot will invest approximately US$20 million to build the masterbatch plant that will have an annual nameplate capacity of approximately 45,000 metric tons with expansion capacity to 80,000 metric tons in the future. The world scale plant will be the first fully integrated black masterbatch production and is anticipated to be commissioned in mid-2011.
Part of the world’s largest rubber and specialty carbon black facility, this state-of-the-art plant will include the latest environmental and manufacturing technologies to ensure production of high-quality masterbatches. Cabot is the leading manufacturer of black masterbatches and operates additional facilities in Europe (Belgium and Italy), Asia (Hong Kong), and the Middle East (Dubai).
Sean Keohane, vice president and general manager of Cabot’s Performance Segment said, “Demand for masterbatch in China and the broader Asia Pacific region is growing rapidly. Having a local manufacturing facility producing high quality products to serve our customers will be a significant competitive advantage for us. The Tianjin masterbatch plant will supply product to a broad range of markets, from key infrastructure applications such as pipe and wire, and cable to the rapidly expanding automotive sector. We look forward to building upon our production base in TEDA to support our customers in the region with performance materials for their demanding applications.”
“We appreciate the support of the TEDA, Tianjin and China governments in the continuing development of this facility,” said Mr. Xinsheng Zhang, vice president and general manager of Cabot Corporation’s Asia Pacific region. “The Tianjin facility constitutes one of the largest and most technologically advanced carbon black production facilities in the world. With the addition of masterbatch production, this facility is positioned to meet the needs of our customers, especially the polymer and plastics converting industry with more choices and greater flexibility.”
Source: http://www.cabot-corp.com/