Swiss specialty chemicals producer Clariant has started up its new masterbatch plant at Guangzhou, China. The site also includes a state-of-art workshop and an upgraded advanced lab.

The new production facility dedicated to the manufacturing and supply of specialty black masterbatches, which the group said are in “high demand” from a number of consumer goods sectors in the People’s Republic, was built at a cost of 5 million Swiss francs.

With black PET/PA masterbatches for manmade fibers already developing into a “sizable” business in China and some other Asian countries, Clariant said the new facility in Guangzhou will supplement supply from its existing plant in Taiwan, which has been running flat out.

Over the past two decades, the Muttenz-based group has been building its presence in the South China region with a focus on products for fiber, consumer goods and packaging applications. In 2017, it widened its high performance masterbatch activities supplying the E&E sector.

Including the Taiwan facility, the specialty chemicals producer has three masterbatch production sites in the Greater China region. Bernd Hoegemann, head of Clariant’s Masterbatches business unit, said the new investment will enhance the specialty chemicals producer’s full range serve in supplying black masterbatches to local customers.