15 January 2007 – Borealis is committing ˆ90m to a three-pronged investment programme of its polypropylene business, extending capacity in Finland and strengthening the technical scope of an existing plant in Austria. The investment also covers the installation of a new pilot plant at the Austrian site.
Under the plans, Borealis’s Porvoo plant in Finland will have its capacity extended by 65,000tpa to 220,000tpa at a cost of ˆ25m by the end of next year. Growing demand from the pipe sector as well as from the Russian market are key reasons for the expansion, the company says.
At Schwechat, in Austria, the company will spend ˆ35m on adding a fourth reactor to its multi modal Borstar plant to provide material with superior properties for the automotive, pipe and advanced packaging industries.
In addition, it will build a ˆ30m four-reactor Borstar pilot plant at the site, near Vienna, to support the development of innovative products. The new unit will be on stream in 2009.
The announcements follow Borealis’s recent confirmation that it will expand the capacity of its Borstar polypropylene plant at Burghausen, in Germany, by 330,000tpa.
