•Around 200 new jobs / Investment volume approx. EUR 30 million
LEVERKUSEN, Oct. 10, 2007 -- The LANXESS chemicals group is to build its new ion exchange resin plant in the Indian state of Gujarat. Construction work on the EUR 30 million site at the new Jhagadia Chemical Park near Baroda is set to begin in the second quarter of 2008. Production is scheduled to start at the beginning of 2010, with 200 new employees being taken on.
In terms of investment volume this is the biggest project undertaken by LANXESS's Ion Exchange Resins business unit since the end of the 1990s. "This represents a commitment to one of the fastest growing and most future-proof areas of industrial chemistry. The aim of this move is to generate profitable growth and further strengthen our position on the global market," explains Rainier van Roessel, the member of the LANXESS Management Board responsible.
The new plant will manufacture products for industrial water treatment and the generation of ultra-pure water for the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries. The portfolio will comprise a selection of the ion exchanger grades in Ion Exchange Resins business unit's current product range such as anions, cations and mixed bed.
In March of this year, LANXESS launched an international competition that sites in China, India and Singapore entered. The Jhagadia Chemical Park in India was selected because it already has an excellent industrial infrastructure in place.
The Ion Exchange Resins business unit belongs to the Performance Chemicals segment, which achieved total sales in 2006 of EUR 1,812 million.
The Asia-Pacific region is of crucial significance for LANXESS. With sales increasing to EUR 1.23 billion, Asia accounted for nearly 18 percent of the Group's sales in 2006. Driving this growth are the Chinese and Indian markets, where double-digit increases in sales were recorded. The Leverkusen-based chemicals group has inaugurated five new plants in China as part of the "LANXESS goes Asia" strategy launched in April 2006. The company also plans to hire up to 1,000 new employees in Asia by 2009.
LANXESS is one of a leading European chemicals suppliers, with 2006 sales of EUR 6.94 billion and more than 16,000 employees in 18 countries. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacture and sale of chemicals, rubber and plastics.
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