Asia Carbon switches carbon black lines to speciality materials

ERJ staff report (DS)

New York - In a bid to make more money, Asia carbon is switching three of its carbon black lines from tyre grades to speciality grades. The total cost is approximately $4 million, and the conversion is expected to be complete by the end of 2012. Around 36,000 tonnes per year of capacity is affected.

Asia Carbon said the current sales price for speciality carbon black is approximately $2,400 per ton, compared with approximately $940 per ton for the tyre grades currently being manufactured.

Speciality carbon black also has a broader range of uses as compared to the more traditional products; these include use as a pigmenting agent, UV stabilizer or conductive agent in a variety of products, such as plastics, toners and printing inks and coating, battery and electrical parts.

Each of the Company's dry production lines has an annual production capacity of 12,000 tons, operating at approximately 80 percent capacity. Together the three dry production lines generate approximately $27 million revenue per year at the current price levels. Once the renovation has been completed, said Asia Carbon, the production lines will each have an annual capacity of 6,000 tons, for a total of 18,000 tons of speciality carbon black per year. Projected revenue from speciality carbon black production at similar operating capacity is anticipated to be approximate $35 million annually.

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Press release from Asia Carbon