US firm Cabot Corporation has broken ground on its previously announced carbon black capacity expansion project in Cilegon, Indonesia. This phase of the project will add approximately 80,000 tonnes/year of additional production capacity and is expected to be completed in 2021.
The new capacity from this project will provide supply to serve the increasing carbon black demand in Indonesia and throughout Southeast Asia, which is growing at 4/5% year.
“As the largest player in the global carbon black market, we are uniquely positioned to expand our global footprint to better serve the needs of our customers in every region around the world,” said Bart Kalkstein, Senior Vice President and President, Reinforcement Materials. “We are pleased with the progress we have made in our capacity expansion program to date and look forward to completing this additional investment of Cabot’s latest technology, which will enable us to continue providing a reliable source of high quality carbon black to meet the ever growing needs of our customers in the Southeast Asia market.”
The expansion in Cilegon is part of a larger global capacity expansion and debottlenecking project, announced in May 2018. Cabot has made significant progress towards its stated goal of expanding global carbon black manufacturing capacity by 300,000 tonnes and says it will have reached this goal upon commissioning of this new capacity. This capacity increase is enabling Cabot to support the growth of its tyre, industrial rubber and specialty carbons customers worldwide.
Dixy Olyviardy, Managing Director, Cabot Asia Pacific South and President, Cabot Indonesia said, “Cabot has been fortunate for the support and partnership of the Indonesian government throughout our 30 years of business in Indonesia. As a pioneer of the automotive and infrastructure industries in Indonesia, Cabot has made significant contributions to the country. Indonesia is determined to be one of the major economic power in the coming decade, and this investment demonstrates our confidence and commitment to that goal. Our investment will not only enable our customers to grow their market with innovative and high quality products, but more importantly, will benefit the communities and Indonesian people.”