Start-up at the Suzhou Industrial Park is scheduled for early next year

Start-up at the Suzhou Industrial Park is scheduled for early next year

Basell is to start work on a new polypropylene compounding plant in China this month. The unit will be built at the Suzhou Industrial Park, 80km west of Shanghai, with start-up scheduled for early 2005. The company said the ultimate capacity of between 55,000tpa and 60,000tpa will be reached in several phases.

Advanced Polyolefins business president Sergio Danesi said the Chinese investment will support customers in the automotive, appliance and industrial sectors. Owned by BASF and Shell the polyolefins giant is a major compounder of polypropylene with worldwide capacity in excess of 700,000tpa, including joint ventures. More than 500,000tpa is compounded in Europe. Following the start-up of the Chinese plant, Basell will have a presence in 15 countries.