Bayer to build PU coating raw materials plant in China

SINGAPORE (Jan. 22)—Bayer A.G. is investing $110 million to establish a polyurethane coating raw materials plant in Caojing, China. In the initial $50 million phase, Bayer will start construction this spring of an 11,500-metric-ton-per-year facility to make toluene diisocyanate- and hexamethylene diisocyanate-based polyisocyanates. The unit will come on-stream in 2003, and later will be expanded to 20,000 tons, Bayer said. The second phase will involve construction of production facilities for the HDI precursor, at an additional cost of $60 million, to complement a 30,000-ton-per-year HDI plant, to go on-stream in 2002 in Leverkusen, Germany, Bayer said. The project will be controlled by a newly formed Bayer subsidiary, Bayer Coatings Systems Shanghai Co. Ltd, which recently received a business license for the project from Chinese authorities, a Bayer spokesman said.