UCB Group's Surface Specialties UCB business has announced plans to build a melamine coatings resins production plant in Shanghai, China, in response to rapid demand growth. The plant, with an initial capacity of more than 12,000 metric tons annually, is expected to go on-stream in late 2005 and will be built at Surface Specialties UCB's existing coatings resins site. Powder coatings resins and UV-curable resins are currently produced at the site. The company says the Chinese market for coatings resins is projected to post a double-digit growth rate this year.

DuPont (Wilmington, DE) has added two new distributors for its Specialty Colorants and Additives business. Each distributor will offer customized products and services in the areas of nano-particle and ultrafine dispersions. Lipscomb Chemical of Long Beach, CA, will operate in the West and Southwest, and the G. R. O'Shea Co. of Itasca, IL, will operate in the Midwest.