On November 16, Louisiana officials announced that Wanhua Chemical Group will invest $1.25 billion to develop its first U.S. chemical manufacturing facility about an hour west of New Orleans.
Last spring, the company indicated that it would build a plant in Louisiana, but this week officially selected a site along the Mississippi River, in St. James Parish.
Officials said that the plant would directly employ 170 people at an average annual salary of more than $80,000. The project is expected to support 1,000 construction jobs at peak building activity, as well as create another 1,060 permanent, indirect jobs in the area.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards credited the state’s infrastructure for allowing it “to compete for the leading economic development projects in the world.”
The plant in St. James Parish will produce methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, which officials said is used in polyurethane automotive parts as well as foams and elastomers for the appliance, electronics, insulation, furniture, footwear, and textile industries.
Construction is expected to begin next year and be mostly completed by the end of 2021. Wanhua's site infrastructure costs would be offset by a $4.3 million performance-based grant from the state, and officials said that the company would also utilize Louisiana’s jobs rebate and industrial tax exemption programs.
The Chinese company, which distributes MDI and other petrochemicals globally, established a U.S. office in 2006 in Philadelphia, and a U.S. headquarters in Houston in 2014. Its U.S. manufacturing subsidiary opened in Louisiana in 2016.
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