Compounder China XD Plastics (Harbin, Heilongjiang / China; www.chinaxd.net) is no longer focusing its attention solely on supplying its domestic market with technical compounds, it is now also visibly interested in tapping new markets outside Asia. The first step was the construction of an additional plant at AL Composites in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, starting in mid-2014. Compared with its Chines capacities, the new production facility is relatively small, with an output of only 4,000 t/y. From Q1 2015, it will supply overseas markets with high-end products – and that will presumably also include Europe.

Together with the production plant in Nanchong in Sichuan Province, Southwest China, which has been under construction since December 2013 and is due to go on stream at the end of 2015 with an estimated capacity of 300,000 t/y (see Plasteurope.com of 14.01.2014), China XD could then have a total capacity of 690,000 t/y.