DSM to invest in new polymer plant in China to produce Akulon® PA6

Heerlen, NL, 14-Sep-2006, Royal DSM N.V. today announces that it has decided to invest in a new facility at its Jiangyin site, Jiangsu province, to produce high viscosity grades of Akulon® polyamide 6 (PA6). The new plant is expected to come on stream in Q2 2008. The major proportion of the production is targeted at packaging film producing companies in Asia-Pacific. The investment will amount to several tens of millions of USD.

“An increased presence in emerging economies is a key objective of DSM’s strategy Vision 2010 – Building on Strengths,” said Jos Goessens, President of DSM Engineering Plastics. “China, of course, represents an almost unimaginably large market opportunity, thanks to the country’s vast population and increasing standard of living. This is especially true in areas such as food packaging – an area where our products bring high value. Together with our recent Chinese investments in a new compounding facility and a development center, the new polymer plant will give DSM a major depth of operations in China and Asia.”

The new plant will be built at DSM Engineering Plastics’ site in Jiangyin where DSM operates a compounding plant that was opened in April this year. The new plant will draw its caprolactam feedstock from the DSM Nanjing Chemical Company, a joint venture of DSM and Sinopec that produces caprolactam in Nanjing. The new polymer facility will make DSM unique in producing the full PA6 chain, raw materials, polymer and compounded product in China.

The new plant will use leading technology and will be equipped with best-in-class safety, health and environmental compliance systems. In addition to meeting the growing local demand of the Chinese market, the new plant will also serve as a prime sourcing base for the entire Asia Pacific region. The facility design allows for additional capacity expansion to accommodate further growth in demand in the future.

In addition to the production plants, DSM’s Asia Pacific Regional Development Service Center operates from the same Jiangyin site, bringing local availability of development, applications, and technical expertise to customers, as DSM is doing in other parts of the world.

DSM Engineering Plastics
DSM Engineering Plastics is a business group forming part of DSM’s Performance Materials cluster. DSM Engineering Plastics is a global supplier of Stanyl® PA 46 and Akulon® 6 and 66 polyamides, Arnitel® TPE-E, Arnite® PBT and PET polyesters, Xantar® polycarbonate, Yparex® extrudable adhesive resins, and Stamylan® UH Ultra High Molecular Weight PE. These materials are used in technical components for electrical appliances, electronic equipment and cars, in barrier packaging films as well as in many mechanical and extrusion applications. The business group had annual sales of EUR 705 million in 2005. It employs 1400 people worldwide and has 8 production locations in Europe, USA and Asia. With Stanyl®, it is the global market leader in high heat polyamides.

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