London: Solvay SA, the 150-year-old company that’s moving from commodity chemicals to specialty materials and additives, will expand a high-performance plastics plant in India to cope with demand from smartphone and aircraft makers.
Production of polyether ether ketone polymer resins, known as PEEK, will increase 25% at the Panoli plant in the state of Gujarat, the Brussels-based company said on Wednesday.
Chief executive officer Jean-Pierre Clamadieu’s strategy involves focusing on higher-margin offerings amid a plan to exit cheaper polyvinyl chloride plastics through a joint venture. Demand for PEEK and related compounds is growing at about 8% to 10% annually as handset and tablet makers need heat- and chemical-resistant plastics to fit more technology into a smaller space.
“Today’s announcement to debottleneck capacity shows we are determined to keep pace with this growing demand worldwide,” Augusto Di Donfrancesco, Solvay’s head of specialty polymers, said in a statement.
Solvay’s increase in capacity is a further challenge to market leader Victrex Plc, carved out of Imperial Chemical Industries, and Evonik Industries AG. The three companies are the main suppliers of PEEK. Victrex reported a gross margin of 64% in the first half, with revenue jumping 13%. Bloomberg
