Phillips Carbon plans Rs 650-crore expansion programme

Kochi, Jul 23: Kolkata-based Philips Carbon Black Limited (PCBL) is plannig for an expansion programme at a cost of Rs 650 crore, to garner another 12 per cent market share in carbon black in India.

As part of the programme, the company, which enjoys a 40 per cent market share in India, would commission a new carbon black plant with an installed capacity of 80,000 MT per annum at Mundra in Gujarat by March 2009, PCBL Chief of Operations S K Ghosh told reporters ,here today.

Besides, a new plant with a production capacity of 100,000 MT per annum would be opened in Vietnam by December 2009 and the production capacity of the Kochi plant would be increased from 40,000 MT per annum to 90,000 MT per annum, he noted.

Mr Ghosh said the new plants and the added capacity at the plant here would be producing soft carbon, which had a huge market in the US and European countries.

The company, which was part of the RPG group, had three plants at Durgapur, Baroda and Kochi with a total installed capacity of around 2,60,000 MT per annum and was one of the largest manufacturer and exporter of carbon black in India, he added.

He said 90 per cent of the carbon black produced was used in rubber and industry and rest in ink and plastic industries.

The carbon black was exported to more than forty countries across the globe, Mr Ghosh noted.

Stressing that PCBL was giving due importance to maintain environmental standards, Mr Ghosh said the Kochi plant had received the third prize in 2004 from the Kerala State Pollution Control Board and was also ISO 14001 certified for environment, health and safety.

UNI