12 December 2014
DETAILS
announced today
the construction of a new facility in
Hemaraj, Thailand, for the production of
emission control catalysts for light duty vehicles.
The investment will allow Umicore to meet
the increasing demand for automotive catalysts
in the fast growing market in South East Asia.
The investment amounts to
approximately € 20 million and
will initially create 60 new jobs.
Construction of the facility will begin in
the new year and commissioning is expected
in the second half of 2016.
The plant will be situated in a special economic zone
near Rayong that is close to
all the major automotive plants in the country and
will produce newly-awarded business.
Given their extensive presence in the Thai market,
Japanese automotive producers make up
the majority of this new business.
Umicore will serve these Japanese customers through its
Umicore Shokubai joint venture with Nippon Shokubai.
In recent years Thailand has become
the hub of South East Asia’s automotive industry.
Of the 4 million vehicles produced in the region last year,
over half were produced in Thailand.
Sales of passenger cars and light duty trucks
are expected to continue their strong growth and
governments in the region are also working to
tackle the issue of air quality, particularly in the big cities.
Thailand, for example, currently imposes
an automotive emission standard that
is the equivalent of Euro 4.
Jörg von Roden,
SVP Sales & Marketing for
Umicore Automotive Catalysts and
Director of Umicore Shokubai Japan
“We are delighted with this investment. The new facility
will further extend our ability to
offer emission control solutions in the Asian markets and
will complement the activities that we already have
in China, Japan, South Korea and India.
The investment also allows us to move further towards
one of our strategic goals of expanding our offering
to Japanese car producers around the world.”
WWW.CHEMWINFO.COM BY KHUN PHICHAI
