Borouge has announced that it will expand its production capacity under the "Borouge 3" project to reach 4.5 million tonnes by the end of 2013. Investment in this expansion project that will be operational by mid-2014, will reach $ 4.5 billion and once completed, Borouge will have the world's largest integrated single-site polyolefins plant in the world. This announcement was made by officials of the company at a press conference held on Tuesday on the sidelines of 'Arabplast 2013' exhibition at Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre in Dubai. The company also announced that it recorded annual sales of $3 billion in 2011 and it expects to expand its production capacity by 700 per cent over four years (2010-2014). Borouge announced that it will open five more sales offices within the next two years in Japan, Indonesia and Thailand. Hussain Sultan Lootah, Senior Vice President Middle East Africa at Borouge, said: "Our marketing and sales company is based in Singapore and we have 10 sales offices including Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Mumbai, Beirut, Guangzhou, New Zealand and Australia, and sales agents in Egypt, Pakistan, Nepal, Iran, Taiwan, Thailand, Kenya, Korea, Bangladesh and Vietnam." Lootah added: "Our $60 million compounding manufacturing plant in Shanghai, which was completed in 2010, is providing compounded resins for the growing automotive and appliance industries in China with a total capacity of 50,000 t/y and a planned expansion to 90,000 t/y." Borouge also owns three logistics hubs in Shanghai (600,000 t/y), Guangzhou (246,000 t/y) and Singapore (330,000 t/y). Talking about Borouge's cable solutions, Hazeem Al Suwaidi, Vice President, Sales Middle East, added: "With the Borouge 3 coming on stream in 2014, Borouge will continue to develop and produce high quality productivity solutions that enable cable makers to manufacture quality cables while maximising production." At Arabplast 2013, Borouge is demonstrating its wide range of innovative plastics solutions for infrastructure, automotive and advanced packaging. Being one of the major sponsors of Arabplast, Borouge is showcasing its latest PE and PP solutions pipe, wire and cable, film, fibre and moulding applications. At the press conference, Borouge highlighted its innovation centre that will be operational in 2013 with over 50 international engineers and scientists focusing on developing new solutions with its customers. Lootah added that investment in the innovation centre has crossed $70 million. Borouge will also establish a training centre alongside the innovation centre in Abu Dhabi for the Gulf Plastics Pipe Academy (GPPA) that was established by the company along with major players in the industry. Khalfan Al Muhairi, Vice President, Marketing Centre, Pipe, added that the company's pipe grades are used in water and gas distribution, waste and sewerage disposal, chemical and industrial projects, irrigation systems, domestic plumbing and heating and cooling systems, as well as oil and gas exploration and transportation." Emirates 24|7
