Bengal), at Vadodara/Baroda (Gujarat);and at Kochi/Cochin (Kerala). Thesethree power plants will have acombined capacity of 80 MW.

The company also intends to bringon-stream a new 80,000 tonnes/ycarbon black plant at Mundra(Gujarat) by March 2009 and itsproject to raise carbon black capacityat Kochi from 40,000 tonnes/y to90,000 tonnes/y should be completedby September 2009.

Chemical Business (India), Jun 2008, 22 (6), 26 &Chemical Weekly, 5 Aug 2008, 53 (51), 13

India: Zhejiang Longsheng & Kiri –dyes

The 60:40 joint venture companyestablished in India by the ZhejiangLongsheng group (of China) and KiriDyes & Chemicals (of Ahmedabad,India) has acquired land near Padra inthe district of Vadodara (aka Barodain Gujarat province) for theestablishment of its planned reactivedyes plant. Initial capacity will be10,000 tonnes/y, not 20,000 tonnes/y,as originally announced. (See ‘ Focuson Pigments’, Jan 2008, 5).Nevertheless, there is a medium-termplan to raise capacity here to 15,000tonnes/y by 2011. According to ‘CB’,investment in the Padra joint ventureproject will be around Rup 1 bn.

‘CCR’ recently published a profileof Zhejiang Longsheng, which isheadquartered in Shangyu (Zhejiangprovince) and has 13 subsidiariesproducing dyes and chemicalintermediates at sites in Sichuan,Jiangxi and Shanghai provinces. Itsdisperse dyes capacity of 60,000tonnes/y represents 40% of theChinese national total. Its reactivedyes capacity of 30,000 tonnes/yrepresents 20% of the Chinesenational total. For the first half of 2008,Zhejiang Longsheng reported netprofit in excess of Rmb 350 M. As wellas extending its activities into India,thanks to the alliance with Kiri, ZhejiangLongsheng recently acquired a 75%stake in Zhejiang Longhua (aninorganic chemicals producer) and a9.55% stake in Shandong Befar (achloralkali and fine chemicalsproducer).

Meanwhile, ICIS reports that Kirihas commenced work on a Rup 2.5bn plant in Gujarat, which will becapable of producing 50,000 tonnes/y

of various types of dyes, with provisionfor expansion to 60,000 tonnes/y.

Chemical Business (India), Jun 2008, 22 (6), 29-30 &China Chemical Reporter, 26 Aug 2008, 19 (24), 27 &ICIS Chemical Business, 15 Sep 2008, (Website:http://icischemicalbusiness.com)

Japan: Merck – pearlescent pigments

Merck (of Darmstadt, Germany) hasannounced plans to spend €2.6 M toinstall a new production line at itsOnahama plant for the manufacture ofpearlescent pigments. The new line isscheduled to come into production inSpring 2009. Merck developedpearlescent pigments at Onahamaduring the late 1990s and launched itsfirst commercial products in 1998.

Farbe und Lack, Sep 2008, 114 (9), 16 (in German)

Japan: Mitsubishi Chemical – carbonblack, standard & conductive grades

Mitsubishi Chemical has declared that itis considering options for the future ofits carbon black business, in the light ofspiralling raw material costs, which nowrepresent 80% of total manufacturingcosts. The company has three plantsfor producing rubber grades of carbonblack – at Kita Kyushu, Yokkaichi andOnahama. As a joint venture with LionChemical and AkzoNobel, it alsoproduces at Yokkaichi a grade namedKetjenblack, a special conductive formof carbon black.

Japan Chemical Week, 14 Aug 2008, 49 (2477), 4

Malaysia & US: Tor Minerals – milledsynrutile pigments

Tor Minerals (Formerly Hitox Corp ofAmerica) has finished building a new“pigment powder treatment” at its Ipohcomplex in Perak province. Thismeans that the company will be ableto produce more Hitox buff titaniumpigments here to satisfy demand fromcustomers in Asia and further afield.Hitox pigments are manufactured byfine-milling synrutile produced at thecompany’s 50,000 tonnes/y plant atIpoh. Effectively, a substantialproportion of regular Hitox pigmentproduction will be transferred from theCorpus Christi, TX, plant (in the US)to the Malaysian plant. In turn, this willfree up space at the Corpus Christiplant for the production of Tiopremcoloured pigments.

In future, Tor Minerals will employnew warehousing capacity at Norfolk,VA, and at Oakland, CA, to storeHitox pigments. Shipments will bemade directly from Ipoh to the newUS warehouses, reducing overallfreight costs and delivery time-lags.Also, the company will cut down thecost of keeping synrutile inventories atCorpus Christi.

APCJ, Asia Pacific Coatings Journal, Aug 2008, 21 (4),5

Singapore: Denki Kagaku – fused silica

Denki Advantech, a wholly-ownedsubsidiary of Denki Kagaku (of Japan)has raised the capacity of its fusedsilica plant in Singapore by 20-30%,bringing total capacity here to 17,000tonnes/y. The capacity increase wasachieved by renovating the meltingprocess.

Japan Chemical Week, 21 Aug 2008, 49 (2478), 2-4

Thailand & Saudi Arabia: Toyo Ink &Sumitomo – plastic compounds

Toyo Ink and Sumitomo have createdan alliance to make polypropylenecompounds for the automotiveindustry in Thailand. The new plantwill have a capacity of 11,000tonnes/y and it should be ready forstart-up in September 2008. Toyo Inkand Sumitomo are also collaboratingon joint ventures to makepolypropylene compounds at Zhuhai(China) and at Rabigh (Saudi Arabia).

Japan Chemical Week, 14 Aug 2008, 49 (2477), 8

Thailand: MTI – PCC

Phoenix Pulp & Paper (a subsidiarywithin the Siam Cement Group) hascommenced trial operations at its new200,000 tonnes/y uncoated woodfreepaper machine at Nam Phong (KhonKaen province). At the same time, theon-site precipitated calcium carbonate(PCC) plant is being commissioned.The PCC plant has a capacity of50,000-75,000 tonnes/y of filler-gradePCC and it is operated by MineralsTechnologies Inc (MTI). Thecompletion of the Nam Phong plantmeans that MTI now runs eightsatellite PCC units at various papermills in Asia.

Pulp and Paper International, Aug 2008, 50 (8), 6

6 OCTOBER 2008

F O C U S O N P I G M E N T S