Mar 30 2007
The Board of Management of the SGL Group – The Carbon Company – together with official guests laid the symbolic foundation stone at the 20-hectare site of
their most ultra-modern carbon and graphite plant worldwide in Banting/Selangor (Malaysia). The construction which was announced in August 2006 and on which fieldwork started in November is set to begin with the first part of the multi-level graphite electrode production facility as soon as the middle of 2008.
In the presence of the Chief Minister of the State of Selangor, Dato’ Seri Dr. Mohamad Khir bin Toyo, and the German Ambassador in Malaysia, Herbert D. Jess, the Chairman of the Board of Management of the SGL Group, Robert Koehler, stated: “Based on the best practices of the SGL Group, this newly integrated plant is becoming the most cost-effective production plant with the most ultra-modern technology, both worldwide and across the industry. In this way we are optimizing our global product infrastructure for carbon and graphite products as planned and further expanding our position as a global low-cost leader.”
The beneficial South-East Asian location of Malaysia offers favorable energy and labor costs, attractive tax and infrastructure advantages as well as quick official approval processes and a central geographical starting point for the onsite supply to the rapidly growing electric steel industry in Malaysia and other countries in South-East Asia.
The first stage in expansion of the integrated carbon and graphite plant includes the construction of a graphite electrode production facility with an annual capacity of 30,000 tons, for which a total capital expenditure of €50 million is planned for 2007 and 2008. In the medium-term, the Company anticipates a total capital expenditure of up to €200 million over several years. The graphite electrode capacity in Malaysia can be increased to 60,000 tons depending on market requirements. As an additional part of the overall investment, the SGL Group is already planning the expansion of the Malaysian plant to include the manufacture of its additional carbon and graphite products.