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[August 2008]
Almatis Invests US$50 million in Full-Scale Calcines Production Facility in Asia
Almatis has announced that it is establishing a full-scale calcines production facility in China, bringing the total investment into the production and processing of calcined specialty alumina products in the region to US$50 million. The new plant will be integrated with the existing Huangdao (Qingdao) tabular operation. The first phase of the project, a batch mill, will start production by the end of 2008. The kiln and other downstream processing equipment are scheduled to come on-stream by mid-2010.This investment positions Almatis strategically to continue meeting the rising demand of customers in South East Asia for premium alumina products. China remains the world’s largest steel producing nation and there is significant growth potential in the Asian markets in ceramic applications such as flat panel displays, spark plugs and electronic substrates.
“This decision represents a major commitment to supporting our customers’ future growth. We are investing our resources in this large project at a time when the global economic outlook is uncertain and our industry has to cope with massive increases of key input factor cost such as feedstock, energy and transportation. We see however the need for further investment to ensure sufficient availability of premium specialty alumina as enablers of growth in a range of industries,” commented Martin Laudenbach, CEO of Almatis. “Our customers can furthermore expect increased flexibility and shorter delivery times as a result of the greater market proximity of the new facility and reduced dependency on long distance shipping.”
The new Asian calcines production facility complements Almatis’ existing calcines operations in North America and Europe. The project will incorporate state-of-the-art energy efficient technology for stable and efficient production.
The history of Almatis manufacturing activities in China goes back to 1998 when the Huangdao (Qingdao) plant was established as a processing plant, manufacturing crushed and sized alumina products. In 2006 Almatis inaugurated its fully integrated tabular alumina facility at the site. Almatis operates further Asian production facilities for tabular alumina in Iwakuni, Japan, and Falta, India.
www.almatis.com
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