partly in order to support its plannedexpansion and partly because ofrelatively weak demand conditions inthe home market. For the fiscal yearto end-March 2002, KMML exported1751 tonnes of TiO2 pigment and forthis year the company set itself anexport sales target of 4500 tonnes. Bythe end of January 2003, thecumulative total exports for the fiscalyear had reached 4000 tonnes, so thetarget for the full year should becomfortably exceeded. Exportearnings are forecast to exceed Rup300 M. KMML has been particularlysuccessful in selling TiO2 pigment toSouth Africa, South Korea, the UnitedKingdom, Italy and Sri Lanka.

Chemical Weekly, 18 Feb 2003, 48 (26), 103

India: Phillips – carbon black

While announcing its financial resultsfor the financial year to end-Sep 2002,Phillips Carbon Black (part of theR.P.Goenka group) confirmed that itsproject to expand capacity atDurgapur (in West Bengal) to 125,000tonnes/y is making good progress.Meanwhile, the provincial PollutionControl Board has confirmed that thecompany’s Kochi plant (in Kerala)must limit its operations to 39,000tonnes/y. (See also ‘Focus onPigments’, Sep 2002, 4).

Phillips reported carbon blacksales at 135,000 tonnes for the latestfinancial year. The company made anafter-tax profit of Rup 54 M on aturnover of Rup 4.945 M, whichincluded export sales worth Rup401.8 M.

Business Line, 8 Feb 2003, 10 (38), 2

India: Tata – iron oxide pigments

Tata Pigments (based in Kolkata) –one of the country’s leadingmanufacturers of synthetic red andyellow iron oxide pigments – isupgrading and expanding its facilitiesat Jamshedpur with the application ofnew technology licensed from anunidentified US supplier. Thecompany set up a pilot-scale plant totest the new technology in December2000. Four months later, Mr BPSPanwar (Managing Director of TataPigments) declared: “We areoverwhelmingly satisfied with the

performance of the pilot plant.” Thenew technology facilitates reducingcosts and improving product quality.The project should be fully completedby the end of June 2003, enablingTata Pigments to treble its iron oxidepigments production.

Meanwhile, the company reporteda 15% increase in turnover for thenine months to end-December 2002,mainly thanks to strong demand for itsCemplus brand of dry cement paints.

Chemical Weekly, 4 Feb 2003, 48 (24), 109

Malaysia: TOR Minerals – TiO2feedstock

TOR Minerals (of Corpus Christi, TX)is nearing completion of the first stageof its programme to upgrade itssynrutile production facilities at Ipohbeyond the current level of 50,000tonnes/y. This follows the signing of acontract with an unnamed TiO2pigment manufacturer guaranteeingthe purchase of at least 30,000tonnes/y of synrutile, to be shipped in10,000 tonne lots direct from Ipoh tothe customer’s pigment plant.

TiO2 Worldwide Update, Nov/Dec 2002, 10, (5/6), 12

Mexico: Schulman – plastics colorants

A.Schulman Inc (of Akron, OH) plansto spend $3.5 M on installing two newlines for making colour concentratesat its San Luis Potosi plant, increasingcapacity there by 2 M tonnes/y. Theextra capacity will be mainly devotedto serving customers in plastic filmand packaging materials, plasticconsumer products, and certainautomotive applications. As part of theexpansion programme, the factoryfloor space will be increased from147,000 sq ft to 187,000 sq ft.

Meanwhile, Schulman recentlyopened its first commercial centre inJapan. The primary task of this centrewill be to work with Japanesecarmakers, specifying Schulmanproducts for vehicles destined to beproduced in North America, Japan orelsewhere in Asia. Most of theSchulman products specified will bemanufactured in North America.

Plastics News, 25 Feb 2003 (Website:http://www.plasticsnews.com) & Press release from:A.Schulman Inc, Akron, OH 44333, USA. Website:http://www.aschulman.com (20 Feb 2003)

Russia: Alchemie – colour pigmentpastes for paints & inks

Alchemie International (of India) isplanning to build a plant in the Moscowregion for the production of 2500-3000tonnes/y of colour pigment pastes foruse in the manufacture of paints andprinting inks. Investment in the projecthas been estimated at $2-5 M.

Kommersant, 19 Feb 2003, (29), 16 (in Russian)

Russia: Chelak & Eskaro – dyes

SC Eskaro Chemical AS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eskaro AS ofEstonia, has commenced constructionof a new 10 M litres/y dyestuffs plantat St Petersburg. The plant should bein operation by mid-2003 and itscompletion will treble Eskaro’sexisting dyestuffs capacity in Russia.€2.8 M has been budgeted for thisproject.

Meanwhile, in the Urals region, SCChelak has temporarily closed itsdyestuffs plant at Chelyabinsk tofacilitate a complete overhaul andrefurbishment. The plant is due toreopen in April 2003, with increasedcapacity.

Khimiya i Biznes, Dec 2002, 50 (4), 24 & 51-52 (5-6),51 (in Russian)

Russia: Lukoil – TiO2 feedstock &pigment from shale deposits

The long-standing project to establishan integrated TiO2 feedstock andpigment operation in the Komi regionof northern Russia has received amajor boost from Lukoil, one of themajor Russian oil corporations. Thetotal cost of the project was recentlyassessed as Rbl 16.2 bn (or $512 M)and Lukoil has agreed to guaranteethis investment.

In the first stage of the project,facilities will be erected for extracting600,000 tonnes/y of ilmenite from theshale deposits at Yarega. In thesecond stage, a sulfate-route pigmentplant will be built, with the objective ofusing some of the Yarega ilmenite asfeedstock. No indications have beengiven as to the size or location of thepigment plant, but completion of theentire project has been scheduled forcompletion in 2010.

When AO Komi Titan first outlineda project of this nature in 1993, it wason a much smaller scale. The pigment

MARCH 2003 5

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