At a recent press conference in Sao Paulo, Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, CEO of chemical giant Rhodia (Courbevoie / France; www.rhodia.com), said the company plans to invest about EUR 200m into its operations in Brazil in the next three to four years. According to unconfirmed reports, most of the money is to go into a debottlenecking of the polyamide chain and the manufacture of solvents. Existing plans do not envision the opening of new plants to complement the ones in Santo Andre, Sao Bernardo do Campo, Paulinia and Jacarei. However, Rhodia declined to elaborate further in response to a query by PIE.

Over the last five years, Rhodia has invested some EUR 250m in the country, which accounts for about 17% of total company sales (EUR 4.76 bn in 2008).