Arkema announces a new project to produce polyamide 12 in China mid-2020

To complement its major project in the bio-based polyamide 11, Arkema announces a 25% expansion in its global polyamide 12 polymers production capacities to support its customers’ strong demand in Asia.

Arkema announces an investment plan to increase by 25% its capacity of polyamide 12 polymers, commercialised under the trademark Rilsamid.

This new capacity will be added at Arkema’s Changshu platform in China and is expected to come on stream by mid-2020.

With this latest investment plan, Arkema continues to reinforce its specialty polyamide business in all three major global regions – Europe, North America and now Asia.

This investment represents several tens of millions of euros and will support the strong demand in growth applications such as cable protection, lightweighting (metal replacement) in automotives, improved high performance sports shoes and evolving applications in the consumer electronics segment.

The mid-term growth rates in these applications are expected to exceed 7% per year in Asia.

With this latest project, the specialty polyamides business will continue to bolster its industrial, commercial and R&D presence in Asia, and confirms its commitment to supply its global customers locally.