The facility in Huaibei, Anhui province will produce carbon black for a variety of applications, including coatings, printing inks, rubber, polymers, fiber, and rubber. The site’s two production lines have a total capacity of 70 kilotons per year.

“The Huaibei facility is a huge milestone for Orion. The state-of-the-art plant enables us to better support our Chinese customers with products that are made in China,” Orion CEO Corning Painter commented. “Now we can reallocate production lines in the U.S. and Europe so that we can increase supply to customers in those markets.”

Orion’s other plant in China is in Qingdao, Shandong province. The facility, built in 1994, produces carbon black grades for tires, mechanical rubber goods, and specialty applications.

Painter commended everyone on the Huaibei project team for overcoming the extreme challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Despite the constant disruption during the worst periods of the pandemic, our employees, contractors and leadership team kept the project on track,” the CEO said.