TPT March 2007

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24 March/April 2007
Industry News
Borealis, a leading provider of plastics
solutions including tube and pipe, has
announced it will expand its polypropylene
(PP) capacity at Porvoo in Finland and
extend the product range from its Borstar®
PP plant in Schwechat, Austria.
The company will invest €25mn to expand
the capacity of its PP plant in Porvoo,
Finland, from 65,000tpa to 220,000tpa by
the end of 2008. The increased capacity
is intended to meet growing demand for
innovative plastics solutions in the pipe
and advanced packaging markets and
better supply the developing Russian
market.
Borealis will also invest €35mn to create
a four-reactor configuration at its Borstar®
PP plant in Schwechat, Austria, to support
the production of superior materials that
meet the needs of the automotive, pipe and
advanced packaging industries.
The plant is designed to take advantage
of the expanding automotive markets in
central and eastern Europe. The additional
gas phase reactor will be operational by
2009.
In addition, Borealis will invest €30mn
in a four-reactor Borstar PP pilot plant
at Schwechat that will strengthen the
company’s ability to develop innovative,
advanced multimodal PP solutions. The
pilot plant will be completed in 2009.
Mr Wim Roels, Borealis vice president
(innovation & technology), commented,
“In addition to these asset investments in
polypropylene, the ongoing investment in
innovation centres and polymer expertise
demonstrates our commitment to maintain
our position.”
The company also recently announced that
it is expanding the plant at Burghausen in
Germany to manufacture 330,000tpa of
Borstar PP.
Borealis AG – Austria
Fax: +43 122 400 333
Email:
Website :
Strong growth at SMS group
The SMS Group, Germany, won orders
of over €3.2bn in 2007, an increase the
company says is due to the global buoyancy
of the steel industry. Other markets fared
well such as the hardening and forging
industry, the nonferrous metal producing
industry and plastics processing industry.
Orders from Germany formed 13 per
cent of the company's overall order
intake, showing a modest recovery on the
domestic market. The most important sales
regions for SMS remain China, Russia and
India. However, other countries embarking
on industrialization or an extensive
modernization phase also contributed to the
increased order volume.
SMS also noted that the industry in the
traditional steel regions of North America,
western Europe and Japan invested at
a normal rate. However, these countries
are facing growing pressure to invest in
revamps to retain their competitiveness.
SMS Group – Germany
Fax: +49 211 881 4386
Website:
Borealis invests €90mn to develop its
polypropylene business