German Materials maker Lanxess AG is investing 75 million euros (US$93 million) to build a nylon plant in Antwerp, Belgium.
The plant, with an annual capacity of 198.4 million pounds, will begin operations in the first quarter of 2014.
Lanxess, based in Leverkusen, said global demand for high-technology plastics is expected to rise by 5-6 percent a year through 2020, mainly fueled by automotive.
Lanxess is building the nylon plant next to its Antwerp facility that makes caprolactam feedstocks.
“With this new combination of facilities, we can supply our global network of compounding plants with polyamide plastics right from Antwerp in the future. That will make Antwerp the heart of our global business more than ever,” said Michael Zobel, who heads the Lanxess High Performance Materials business unit. The company also makes glass fibers for reinforcing the materials, in Antwerp.
Lanxess is in the middle of a global expansion. The company is building compounding plants in Gastonia, N.C., and Porto Feliz, Brazil. Earlier this year, Lanxess opened a plant in Jhagadia, India. The company also has doubled the capacity of its plant in Hamm-Uentrop, Germany.