The plant is currently in the final stages of completion and testing and is due to commence the first production of personal care fine chemicals in the middle of the year.
The facility will produce surfactants, primarily to serve strong growth in the country’s personal care market but also to serve demand from the paints, coatings and metal working industries.
Likewise, the plant will also produce a range of chemicals for the homecare, textile, oil and mining industries.
Tapping into the China and Asian markets
The construction of the new facility is in line with the company’s ambitions to increase its footprint in growth markets in the Asian region, and demonstrates a ‘long-term commitment to China’.
“Despite the current economic downturn, the medium and long-term prospects for the region are strong,” said Siegrfried Fischer, head of the company’s Functional Chemicals Division.
“The new facility is built to the highest environmental and production standards and will ensure we have the capacity to serve our customers' needs in the future.”
Strategic location amidst economic hub
The company says that it chose the location, which is on the Yangtze river, because it is strategically placed between Nanjing and Shanghai, two of the countries most industrialised and economically developed regions.
The facility also compliments the company’s other production facilities in Tianjin, as well as three other plants in the Asia Pacific region, namely Australia, Japan and Indonesia.
The surfactants family of chemicals is used in personal care products primarily as a wetting agent to lower the surface tension of a liquid, making it easier to spread and combine with other liquids.
They appear in a spectrum of cosmetic and personal care products, from soaps and shampoos to every type of cream and lotion.
In Asia and worldwide, the rise in popularity of this family of chemicals is chiefly attributed to the personal care sector because of increasingly innovative formulations that are focused on functionality, efficacy and desirable textures.