Eastern Europe’s largest producer of the PA feedstock caprolactam KuibyshevAzot (Togliatti / Russia; www.kuazot.ru) has inaugurated its first European compounding line in Rudolstadt / Germany and its seventh globally, with capacity at 12,000 t/y. The move reflects KuibyshevAzot’s strategy to expand the polyamide 6 value chain and widen the company’s presence in Western Europe.

It said the Rudolstadt site is ideally located as a production hub to serve West and East European markets and allows for significant synergies between the PA 6 compounding and the fibre spinning business. The Rudolstadt facility was integrated into KuibyshevAzot's polyamide supply chain following its 2011 acquisition of STFG Filamente. The Rudolstadt plant, which has a staff of 85, had been used solely for fibre spinning production. KuibyshevAzot also has PA 6 compounding facilities in Shanghai, China and at its Russia headquarters in Togliatti.

Based on Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net), the Togliatti capacity is 240,000 t/y for caprolactam and 210,000 t/y PA 6. It also produces ammonia, nitrogen fertilisers and industrial gasses. Sales in 2019 were around EUR 600m.