Dow Corning booth at an industry exhibition in Shanghai. [China Daily]
Dow Corning Corp of the United States and Germany's Wacker Chemie AG yesterday inaugurated a US$1.8 billion joint venture silicone manufacturing site in east China to meet fast-growing Chinese and Asian demand.
The site Zhangjiagang in Jiangsu Province is the largest of its kind in China and is capable of producing 210,000 tons of siloxane and pyrogenic silica per year.
Siloxane and pyrogenic silica are key ingredients in the making of finished silicone products which are used in industries ranging from automotive, construction, electronics and solar energy.
Dow Corning Chairman and CEO Stephanie Burns said the market for silicone products is expanding two to three times the rate of gross domestic product growth in emerging markets.
She added that the site can be expanded.
The site could ease a supply gap and help China to develop the new material industry, said Zhang Guobao, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission and director of the National Energy Administration, in a statement which was read by a local official at yesterday's inauguration event.
