Ticona, the engineering polymers business of Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE), announced today that it plans to build a new Vectra® liquid crystal polymer (LCP) production facility co-located at the Celanese integrated chemical complex in Nanjing, China. Construction is slated to begin in the first half of 2009, and the facility is projected to be operational in 2010.
“The new Vectra facility is part of Ticona’s Asia growth strategy to directly serve our customers in this region of impressive growth,” said Sandy Beach Lin, president, Ticona and executive vice president, Celanese. “The new facility will be Ticona’s fourth at the Nanjing complex. In addition to manufacturing, we also provide technical and commercial resources and facilities focused on customer application development, specifically through our technical center in Shanghai.”
Ticona currently produces Celstran® long fiber reinforced thermoplastic (LFRT) and GUR® ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) at the Nanjing complex. The GUR unit successfully began commercial operations in July 2008. A compounding unit is scheduled to be operational in early 2009.
“Our ability to leverage on-the-ground resources at Nanjing and our network of technical and sales support in China allows us to accelerate our ability to drive growth for customers in Asia,” Beach Lin said. “The new units at Nanjing, combined with our established presence in Europe and North America, will support our customers’ need to shift to non-halogenated materials and give Ticona a global footprint to provide the same brand experience to customers throughout the world.”
The new Vectra LCP facility will have an annual capacity of 7,000 metric tons. Specific investment figures were not announced.
About Celanese and Ticona
As a global leader in the chemicals industry, Celanese Corporation makes products essential to everyday living. Our products, found in consumer and industrial applications, are manufactured in North America, Europe and Asia. Net sales totalled $6.4 billion in 2007, with over 70% generated outside of North America. Known for operational excellence and execution of its business strategies, Celanese delivers value to customers around the globe with innovations and best-in-class technologies. Based in Dallas, Texas, the company employs approximately 8,400 employees worldwide. For more information on Celanese Corporation, please visit the company's website at www.celanese.com.
Vectra®, Celstran® and GUR® are registered trademarks of Ticona.
Ticona, the engineering polymers business of Celanese Corporation, produces and markets a broad range of high performance products, and posted net sales of $ 1.03 billion in fiscal 2007. Ticona employs approximately 2.000 individuals at production, compounding and research facilities in the USA, Germany, Brazil and China. For further information please visit www.ticona.com or www.ticona.cn (Chinese language).
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