BOSTON (June 28, 2010)—Carbon black manufacturer Cabot Corp. has opened its black masterbatch production facility in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the company announced.
The plant has an initial production capacity of 25,000 metric tons per year with provisions to expand to 75,000 metric tons in the future. Production is scheduled to commence in August, Cabot said.
The site includes the latest environmental and manufacturing technologies to ensure production of high-quality black masterbatches. Laboratories, administration offices, production and packaging are all located within the building as well, the Boston-based firm said.
The Dubai plant allows Cabot to better meet increasing demand for masterbatch in the Middle East, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. In recent years the Middle East has become a major producer of polyolefins and downstream compounds, producing about one-fifth of the world's polyethylene and polypropylene.