Borouge to invest in automotive market with new compounding facility in China

Borouge yesterday 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 tons 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 of UAE 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 compounding facility will primarily provide polypropylene solutions for the automotive industry including endurance and high impact interior and exterior applications such as dashboards, door panels and bumpers, as well as mineral filled PP and glass fiber reinforced PP for under the bonnet applications. Value-added compounds for electrical appliances will also initially be part of the manufacturing portfolio.

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 tons 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 polymerization units in the Borouge 2 project.