Lanxess (Leverkusen / Germany; www.lanxess.com) will add a third line to its state-of-the-art compounding facility for PA (“Durethan”) and PBT (“Pocan”) at Wuxi / China, lifting capacity by 50% to 60,000 t/y. Announcing the investment at the “Chinaplas” exhibition (19-22 April 2010 in Shanghai), CEO Axel Heitmann did not disclose the cost. However, the doubling of capacity at Wuxi to 40,000 t/y in 2007 – see Plasteurope.com of 25.05.2007 – cost EUR 20m, the company said at the time.

After sharply trimming its capital spending budget in 2009, Lanxess recently said it would increase spending to EUR 400m in 2010, with Asia a principal target. Heitmann hinted at “further investments in Wuxi in the near future.” The expansion of the compounding plant is aimed at meeting growing demand from Chinese and Asian automotive suppliers. The CEO pointed to a projected 8% rise in automotive sales in China – now the world’s largest market – this year to more than 14m vehicles.