German speciality chemicals producer Lanxess (Cologne; www.lanxess.com) says the construction of its new large-scale plant for ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) in the Chinese city of Changzhou, remains "on track" – see Plasteurope.com of 06.09.2012. The plant, with a planned capacity of 160,000 t/y, comes at a cost of EUR 235m, the largest investment the company has made in China to date. Up to 2,000 individuals are currently working on the site. About 45% of the investment will be spent by the end of 2013. Up to 2,000 individuals are curently working on the site.

Mechanical completion of the Jiangsu Province facility, with potentially 200 employees when finalised, is scheduled for end of 2014. Commercial production for the first customer orders will commence in 2015. China is the world's largest market for EPDM, driven by demand from the local automotive and construction industries. Lanxess, which claims to be the largest producer of the material, currently operates EPDM production sites in Europe – at a Dutch site in Geleen and in Germany at Marl – as well as in the US and Brazil. EPDM is primarily used in the automotive industry as door sealant, hoses, belts or anti-vibration parts. The German company markets its EPDM products under the "Keltan" brand.