Synthomer to build XSBR plant in Asia

Friday, February 24, 2012

Harlow, UK - Synthomer, Europe’s largest producer of carboxylated SBR (XSBR) latex, announced an investment in its first XSBR facility in Asia. The 70,000 metric tons per annum plant will be located at the company’s Pasir Gudang facility in Johor State, and is planned to be operational by the end of 2012. This latest investment follows the recently announced major expansion of the 100,000 mt per annum acrylonitrile butadiene latex (XNBR) facility, also in Pasir Gudang, to support increasing customer demand from the fast expanding synthetic latex glove market. CEO Derick Whyte said: “We have set ourselves the goal of achieving more than 50% of our sales from emerging markets by 2015, with a major focus on Asia. This latest announcement takes Synthomer’s investment in Malaysian capacity expansion, in both XNBR and XSBR latices, to over €50 million in 2012 alone and marks a very important step towards achieving our goal. The Asian coated paper industry is growing rapidly, particularly in China, Indonesia and India, and our choice of Pasir Gudang for this investment reflects its ideal location for raw material supply and outbound logistics allowing Synthomer to effectively serve its customers throughout the region.”

(Source: RubberWorld)