Bayer Materialscience Revises Timing for Expansion Plans

摘要

Bayer MaterialScience (BMS) says that some of its isocyanate and polycarbonate (PC) expansion projects in Europe will be delayed until after the company's recently announced ?1-billion ($1.37 billion) expansion at Caojing, China has been completed. BMS CEO Patrick Thomas recently outlined the company's updated expansion plans exclusively to CW. "The market has moved to China and we are expanding in China first," Thomas tells CW. Bayer is building a 200,000-m.t./ year PC line at Caojing, near Shanghai, that is due onstream in 2013. Bayer, following comple- tion of this project, will debottleneck its existing, two-line 200,000-m.t./year PC complex at Caojing, as well as the new facility, by a total of 100,000 m.t./year by 2016. The expansions will raise the company's total PC capacity at Caojing to 500,000 m.t./year and its global total to 1.6 million m.t./year, reinforcing Bayer's position as the worldwide leading producer of PC, ahead of Sabic. Bayer, meanwhile, will debottleneck its methylene di-para-phenylene isocyanate (MDI) complex at Caojing from 350,000 m.t./year, to 500,000 m.t./year.