Royal DSM NV inaugurates polyamide 6 plant in Jiangyin, Jiangsu province

04-Sep-08

Royal DSM NV, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company headquartered in the Netherlands, has inaugurated polyamide 6 (PA6) plant in Jiangyin (Jiangsu province, China). This first Akulon® PA6 polymerization plant for DSM in China significantly supports the increasing demand for polyamide 6 in the region, and also contributes to the development of the fast growing food packaging industry in China and Asia-Pacific. The plant produces high viscosity grades of Akulon® PA6 to meet the needs of the fast growing high end food packaging market in Asia. China is very important in DSM's strategy Vision 2010 - Building on Strengths. It is one of the key growth countries where significant investments are being made and in 2007 DSM raised its sales target for China in 2010 from US$1 bln to US$1.5 bln. Jiangyin has been the main production site for DSM Engineering Plastics in Asia for the past ten years. As demand from customers in both China and the rest of Asia has grown rapidly in recent years, DSM announced in November 2007 to expand the engineering plastics compounding capacity by 50%. This increase is to be operational towards the end of 2008. DSM also operates a Regional Development & Support Center at the Jiangyin site. Akulon® Polyamide 6 (PA6) is a thermoplastic with outstanding mechanical properties over a wide temperature range used in various every day applications such as automotive, luggage, sports, electronics, packaging films, lighting and furniture. Caprolactam, produced by DSM Polymer Intermediates, is the raw material for PA6, which gives DSM a unique position as an integrated producer of the material. As a replacement of metal in various applications, Akulon® PA6 can offer weight reduction to for instance the automotive industry, resulting in fewer CO2-emissions.