Omsk Carbon Group begins construction of Belarus plant

ERJ staff report (TP)

Mogilev, Belarus – Russian company Omsk Carbon Group (OCG) has begun construction of a carbon black plant in Mogilev, Belarus.

On 29 July, a time capsule symbolising commencement of construction was buried in the Mogilev Free Economic Zone.

OCG said construction should be finished by 2017. Once completed, the €85-million plant will have a capacity of 120,000 tons (108,860 tonnes) per year.

The new production facilities will primarily be targeted at European and Belarusian customers, and OCG says it will provide 450 jobs.

OCG currently has plants in Omsk (260,000 tons) and Volgograd (140,000 tons) in Russia. The company believes that once the new Mogilev plant is fully operational, it will increase its share of the global carbon black production market to 5.6%.

Valery Kaplunat, chairman of the board of directors, said: “We expect our project will strengthen the competitive positions of Belarusian and Russian companies on the global market and are confident it will bring a great synergy to both the Russian and Belarusian economies.”

According to OCG, it is the largest producer of carbon black in Russia and the CIS, and ranks among the top 10 carbon black producers in the world. In 2014 the company celebrated its 70th anniversary.

This year the company said it plans to open representative offices in the US and Canada in addition to the existing logistics and distribution centres in Germany, Romania and Turkey.

In March 2013, ERJ reported that OCG was planning to build the Mogilev plant.