PHILADELPHIA - Dow Coating Materials, a global business unit of The Dow Chemical Co., announced a major investment in its Chinese manufacturing footprint - a new $17 million dollar emulsion plant located at the company’s Zhangjiagang site in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu. The new plant comes on the heels of significant market growth in the greater Shanghai region, as Dow Coating Materials continues its practice of inventing, manufacturing and launching products specifically for the needs of the Chinese coatings market. The facility will also supply products for Dow’s Adhesives and Functional Polymers business as well as the Building and Construction business unit.

 

Construction of the new plant, one of two Dow emulsions plants in the greater Shanghai area, is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2010, with an expected start-up date sometime in late 2011. The area, also home to one of Dow’s largest research and development facilities, has long held strategic importance for the Dow Coating Materials business. According to Bruce Hoechner, Vice President, Regional Director, Dow Advanced Materials, Asia Pacific, the expansion is just one piece of Dow Coating Materials’ broader long-term strategy for greater China.

 

“More than one-quarter of the emulsion products sold by Dow Coating Materials in China were invented in China in the last three years,” noted Hoechner. “Our strategic investment in R&D and manufacturing, coupled with the rapid growth in China’s middle class and its subsequent impact on paint sales in region, means we are well positioned to meet the unique needs of the Chinese people, not just today, but for years to come.”

 

As a leading emulsions binder and additives producer in the coatings industry, Dow Coating Materials brings a long history of innovation to the region, which has seen a return to double-digit growth following 2009’s economic slowdown. Recently, several products developed in China, including ground-breaking innovations such as RHOPLEX/PRIMAL™ EZ CLEAN series and INVIZIPRO™, have been exported to other regions of the world, as markets outside China begin to be influenced by that country’s unique preferences.