Ticona to Invest in Two New Production Facilities in China
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Global Grades of Celstran® LFRT Polymers and GUR® UHMW-PE to Be Manufactured in Plants Operational in 3rd Q 2007 and 1st Q 2008
Shanghai, China, April 27, 2006 - Ticona, the engineering polymers business of Celanese Corporation, confirmed today at ChinaPlas 2006 in Shanghai, China, that it will strategically invest in a new Celstran® long fiber reinforced thermoplastics (LFRT) compounding facility, and a new GUR® ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) facility in the Asia-Pacific region.
The new world-class plants will increase the company's global GUR UHMW-PE capacity to 90,000 t/yr and significantly boost global Celstran LFRT capacity. The new 20,000 t/yr GUR UHMW-PE facility is planned to be operational in the first quarter of 2008, while the first 2000 metric ton Celstran LFRT line is scheduled to be running by the third quarter of 2007.
The site selection process has been narrowed to China, one of the fastest growing markets for engineering thermoplastics worldwide. Detailed engineering work is proceeding, as the construction plans enter the advanced stages.
"As the world's leading producer of UHMW-PE, the investment in China will further extend our global manufacturing capability for an expanded product range," says David Postolowski, Global GUR Business Director.
"The investment in Asia will meet accelerated demand for Celstran LFRT product, and extend our production capacity into this region," stated Bob Engle, Global Celstran LFRT Business Director. Both business directors agree the plants are another key step in Ticona's long-term vision for investing in this high growth region.
About Ticona and Celanese
Ticona Technical Polymers is one of the businesses of Celanese Corporation. Ticona produces and markets a broad range of engineering polymers and achieved sales of $887 million in 2005. Ticona has approximately 2,000 employees at production, compounding and research facilities in the USA, Germany and Brazil.
Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) is an integrated global producer of value-added industrial chemicals based in Dallas, Texas. The Company is the #1 or #2 producer of products comprising the majority of its sales and has four major businesses: Chemicals Products, Technical Polymers Ticona, Acetate Products and Performance Products. Celanese has 29 production plants with major operations in North America, Europe and Asia. In 2005, Celanese Corporation and its predecessor had combined net sales of $6.1 billion.
For further information about Ticona and Celanese, please visit: www.ticona.com and www.celanese.com.
Americas Contacts:
Michael Bratnick
+1-908-204-0730
MBratnick@CoreCompr.com
Robert Shaw, Manager, B2B Marketing
Communications - Americas
+1-859-372-3117
Robert.Shaw@Ticona.com
European Contact:
Henning Küll
Tel: +49-6107-772-1797
H.Kuell@Celanese.com
