As part of its expansion plans for Europe, Samsung Cheil Industries (Uiwang / South Korea; www.starex.co.kr), the plastics division of Korean conglomerate Samsung, is eyeing a compounding facility in Europe. In his New Year’s address, CEO Hwang Baek said the company in particular wants to sharpen its profile in high-performance materials for the automotive sector and LEDs. The Samsung plastics division already is active in Europe with its “Eurolab” pilot plant in Germany’s Frankfurt-Höchst chemical park. Opened in November 2009, this test lab can supply product samples as well as small production lots specified to customer demands.

Like the pilot facility, the compounding plant is likely to be managed by sales subsidiary Samsung Chemical Europe (SCEG, Schwalbach / Germany). However, the plant is being located in Hungary, according to a German spokesman. No production capacity has been announced but test operation is scheduled for the end of 2010, and the official start-up for early 2011.

Initially, the compounding unit will produce only a small range of engineering plastics, with volumes below the quantities earmarked to be sold in Europe. Although some commodities such as ABS, ASA and SAN will be produced at the new Hungarian site, the main focus is likely to be on specialty engineering compounds and high-performance materials such as PC/ABS blends.