AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands – AkzoNobel Functional Chemicals has officially opened a new production site in Shanghai, China, for its Elotex building material additives business.

The facility, which produces redispersible powder polymers, has an annual capacity of around 20,000 tons and brings the total number of Elotex manufacturing plants worldwide to five.

AkzoNobel also announced that the company is set to break ground on a new coatings manufacturing plant in India. The new Industrial Finishes facility, which will produce coil and specialty plastic coatings, is being built in Hoskote, India, near Bangalore. Construction on the first phase of the project is expected to be completed in early 2010.