DSM Engineering Polymers opens a new compounding facility in China

DSM Engineering Polymers, which next week opens a new compounding facility in China, is considering investment in polymerisation capacity for nylon 6 in the country. The company is carrying out a feasibility study on a world-scale plant in the Nanjing area, based on expansion of its caprolactam feedstock capacity with a local partner nearby. If the study reaches a positive conclusion, building work on the unit could start late this year or early in 2007 and give the company a leading position in the market.

The Dutch group has been building its position in the fast growing Chinese market since the early 1990s, installing its first compounding capacity 10 years ago and subsequently buying out its local joint venture partner. Now, it is about to open a new 35,000tpa compounding plant some 150 kilometres from Shanghai, doubling its existing capacity at the older unit, which is being replaced. The facility will compound DSM’s Akulon nylon 6, Stanyl nylon 46 and Arnite PBT materials, meeting demand growth for its materials, which local business director Rolouf Westerbeek puts at typically 15% per annum.

Packaging is proving a particularly dynamic market for nylon 6, underlining the opportunity for local polymer supply, Westerbeek told PRW.com from China today. The availability of caprolactam feedstock, which is being doubled to 140,000tpa by DSM and its partner, a Sinopec subsidiary, is central to DSM’s polymer ambitions.