US leading chemical company to build largest carbon black plant in China

A leading, US-based chemical manufacturer, Cabot Corporation, announced here Thursday that it would start a new joint venture with Shanghai Coking Chemical Company.

William Brady, executive vice president and general manager of Carbon Black at Cabot, said that Cabot Chemical (Tianjin) Company will initially invest 28 million US dollars to build a new world-class carbon black facility in the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area.

The new plant, which should open early 2006, will have an annual nameplate capacity of approximately 61,000 metric tons. It will use the most advanced energy recovery technologies to protect the environment, Brady said.

Cabot China Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cabot Corporation, owns 70 percent of Cabot Tianjin while Shanghai Coking Chemical Company, a long-standing partner of Cabot in China, owns the remainder.

The 120-year-old Cabot specializes in carbon black, which originates from crude oil, and is widely used in manufacturing tire, rubber pipe and construction materials.

Statistics showed that the global industrial sector consumed about eight to nine million metric tons of carbon black each year. China, the world's second largest carbon black consumer next to the United States, used up to 1.1 million metric tons of carbon black annually.

"The rapidly growing China market provides a unique opportunity to offer our customers the highest quality of carbon black," said Zhang Xinsheng, vice president of Cabot Corporation and president of Cabot China Ltd. "Cabot Tianjin will enable us to meet this increased demand for product."

The Tianjin plant is one link of Cabot's long-term development strategy in China. The Boston-headquartered company introduced its products to China in the mid of the 1980s

The Tianjin plant will primarily serve Cabot customers in north China, Zhang said, adding that transportation convenience in Tianjin made it an ideal location.

Source: Xinhua