Bayer on Tuesday inaugurated the new production facilities of its Bayer MaterialScience subgroup in Shanghai.
The project, at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, represents a total capital expenditure volume of about $1.8 billion through 2009 for Bayer and is their largest capital expenditure project outside Germany.
“China is of central importance to Bayer in the Asia-Pacific region – both as a production base and for our business strategy,” said Bayer Management Board Chairman Werner Wenning.
The site is expected to supply customers in the region with nearly 900,000 tons of plastics products per year and will provide significant capacity expansions for polycarbonates, polyurethanes and coating raw materials.
The Asia-Pacific region is the biggest market for polycarbonate in terms of volume, with 1.5 million tons sold last year, more than half the world market of 2.7 million tons. Of this volume, Greater China alone accounts for 650,000 tons, with consumption growing at around 18 percent a year.
