Arkema is due to open a polyester resin plant in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, on Feb. 13, adding to its existing plants in Sant Celoni, Spain, and North Kansas City, Missouri, USA.

The French specialty chemicals and advanced materials company said the new plant will enable it to better serve fast-growing powder coating markets in India, the Gulf Region and neighboring countries.

“The Navi Mumbai facility significantly extends our global footprint for this product and allows us to better meet local demand in India and Southeast Asia, where we see strong growth and demand,” said Marc Schuller, Arkema’s executive vice president, coating solutions and industrial specialties.

“India is one of the fastest growing markets in the world for these products. This facility will offer formulators in the region reliable supply and the resources they need to easily develop high-performance low-VOC [volatile organic compound] powder coating products,” Schuller added.

The $15 million facility, which also includes a dedicated laboratory for providing application development and technical support, will produce the Reafree range of resins. Used in a wide range of industrial and architectural application, these resins are said to be highly versatile and can be formulated to offer benefits such as superior scratch resistance, flow and levelling, and rheology control.

The Navi Mumbai site also produces alkyd and acrylic solutions and oil-free polyester resins, as well as reactive polyamide resins.