Henkel held a groundbreaking ceremony to commemorate the start of construction for its 150,000 m2 adhesives factory in Shanghai Chemical Industry Park. The new facility will be the main adhesives manufacturing base in China and the Asia-Pacific region. Upon completion, the new Henkel factory will be the largest adhesives factory in the world with an estimated annual production of 428,000 tons.

The construction of the new adhesives factory is part of the company's overall strategy to expand its capacities in the growth regions. Currently, Henkel realizes 42% of its total sales within the emerging markets, and 53% of its employees are now working in those markets. The new state-of-the-art adhesives facility, which is scheduled to begin production at the end of 2012, will enable Henkel to cope with the rapidly growing demand in China and the Asia-Pacific region for its industry leading adhesives. The new factory will require a total fixed asset investment of €50 million. Henkel also plans to hire 600 employees to operate the new facility.