Borouge declares unmatched manufacturing expansion of 700% in 5 years

BOROUGE reinforced its position as a reliable and rapidly-growing strategic supplier to the Asia plastics industry at Chinaplas 2014, Asia's largest plastics trade fair held in Shanghai from 23-26 April 2014. At

the exhibition, Borouge showcased its expanding portfolio of plastics solutions for infrastructure (pipe systems, and power and communication cables), automotive and advanced packaging applications. Declaring an unmatched 700% manufacturing capacity expansion rate from 2010 to 2014 at the exhibition, Borouge highlighted its current expansion projects that will contribute to enhancing its ability to deliver sustainable solutions to the plastics value chain across the Middle East and Asia.

“Chinaplas provides a valuable opportunity for the Asia market to learn about our commitment,” said Wim Roels, CEO of Borouge’s Marketing & Sales Company. “By investing in production capacity, commercial operations and research capabilities, we are well prepared to meet Asia’s booming demands and the specific needs of the markets we serve. Our goal is to make a sustainable contribution and deliver a competitive edge to customers all over the world.”

Borouge is currently increasing the annual production capacity of its petrochemical plants in Abu Dhabi from 2 million tonnes per year (t/y) to 4.5 million t/y and is on the brink of starting-up the plants. In addition to increasing the capacity of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) production, the Borouge 3 plant will also introduce low density polyethylene (LDPE) into its production portfolio, enabling Borouge to provide advanced plastics solutions for the global wire and cable markets.

Meanwhile, the production capacity at Borouge’s Shanghai Compounding Plant is being increased from 50,000 t/y to 90,000 t/y mainly serving the automotive market. Borouge is further expanding its commercial and supply chain networks throughout Asia and the Middle East to meet economic growth and better serve its regional customers. This includes the expansion of the Asia North regional sales office in Shanghai and adding two new warehouses in Ningbo and Tianjin in China in 2014. Following the opening of the newest representative office in Japan, Borouge is also locating itself in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta and Delhi in 2014.

“The region, especially China, is undergoing a significant shift in economic strategy to achieve a more sustainable development, and we can see more opportunities there such in the urbanisation trend and growing green consciousness in the public,” said Vincent Ong, Senior Vice President of Asia North at Borouge.  “With the increasing investments in production capacity, regional offices, an application centre and warehouses in China, we can efficiently enhance our competitive advantage and service offering in the local market.”

Innovation: creating value to the plastics industry

Borouge also shared its recent achievement in driving investments in innovation. Its new state-of-the-art Innovation Centre in Abu Dhabi is working together with the European innovation centres of Borealis to develop the competency of polymer science in the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, Borouge’s Application Centre in Shanghai will be expanded and relocated to Pudong in late 2014.

Benefiting from the increased investment in polymer science and materials design competencies, more added-value innovations have been achieved to cater to various market sectors. At this year’s Chinaplas, Borouge debuts its innovative polypropylene solutions including new grades of BorECO for pipes, cross-linked polyethylene cable insulation for High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) cables, Daplen and Fibremod for automotive components production, BorPure for the plastic’s caps and closures market, and the sustainable greenhouse films solution- Borstar.

“We stay on course of our mission of ‘Value Creation through Innovation’ in plastics providing us with enormous market potential to address crucial global challenges the world is facing due to rapid population growth, urbanisation and other mega-trends impacting modern society,” said Roels. “We intend to bring our worldwide technical and scientific expertise in closer cooperation with local industry, societal, and scientific networks.”