Clariant at K 2013: focus on growth and innovation as key drivers for customer benefits

Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, underlined its commitment to the Plastics and Coatings industry at its K 2013 press conference and demonstrated how the megatrends that drive the plastics industry are at the root of the company’s market strategy.

Christian Kohlpaintner, Member of Clariant’s Executive Committee, said that as a key supplier of specialty chemistry solutions for the plastics industry, Clariant needs to focus on innovation – and this in turn is driving the company’s growth: “Today, we see a growing use of plastics with tailor-made properties in applications such as mobile phones, cars, construction, as well as a demand for higher quality plastics applications. Our customers would not be able to meet these needs without chemistry.” Mr. Kohlpaintner added that the emerging markets of Middle East, China and India remain key regions of future growth for plastic resin production, with plastics consumption per capita still well below more developed markets.

Growth

Christian Kohlpaintner outlined a number of major investments to support increasing demand from plastics processors and end-markets for sustainable, high-performance additives, colorants and masterbatches, with a particular focus on the growth markets and regions.

Clariant’s significant recent investments for its Business Unit Masterbatches in the Middle East cover a 10 million Euro investment in Riyadh and the addition of 3 production lines for additives, fibers and color masterbatches. The Masterbatches Joint Venture, still subject to merger control clearance, in Saudi Arabia between Clariant and Tasnee, a strong and established player in the Middle East, will add a significant investment and capacity increase in white masterbatches. Clariant will enhance its regional and global supply capabilities for the important high performance Pigment Violet 23, with a new world scale Pigment PV23 plant in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China. This will supplement its recent acquisition of the Organic Pigment business of Jiangsu Multicolor, a leading organic pigment producer. PV23 is used in a very wide range of formulations and applications in Coatings, Plastics and Printing inks.

Looking ahead, Clariant is exploring options for expanding production capacity of its high-performance Licocene® low molecular polyolefins to meet increasing demand from the plastics sector, as well as from the technical textile segment. Its first Licocene production plant, which started operation in 2006, will near full utilization over the next years.

Innovation

Marco Cenisio, Head of Business Unit Pigments, and his colleagues Michael Grosskopf, Head of Business Units Additives, and Hans Bohnen, Head of Business Unit Masterbatches, outlined significant developments coming out of the Clariant innovation pipeline. These are focused on expanding the features of plastics, improving processing productivity, and supporting the segments in meeting regulatory requirements and sustainability targets.

Innovation highlights unveiled at K 2013 include: new AddWorks® polymer additives solutions for key sectors such as automotive, electrical & electronics (E&E), agriculture, packaging, and for specific effects e.g. process or light stabilization; Exolit® flame retardants for thermoplastics; a new range of low halogen controlled colorants (LHC) for the E&E, toys, consumer goods and food packaging markets; and the launch of The Project House – a four million Euro facility in Italy to pursue breakthrough concepts and solutions in Masterbatches products and processes. A second Project House is to be built in Asia. HiFormer™

The new Clariant Innovation Center, opening at the end of October, will provide a focal point for coordinating Clariant’s global R&D activities. Located in Frankfurt, the facility represents an investment of 100 million Euro. - high performance integrated liquid masterbatches – is a new, innovative Liquid Masterbatches system for all polymers and all production processes. It sets a new industry standard by offering the right mix of consultancy, engineering and chemistry for world class performance, flexibility and excellence.