Degussa Targets South American Tyre Market

Degussa GmbH has doubled its carbon black production capacity in Paulinia, Brazil, to 100,000 tons per year. The move will make the company the world’s second largest manufacturer of carbon black with approximately 1.4 million tons per year.

“We have invested a total of 65 million euros ($85 million) in Brazil…Carbon black is one of the strategic growth areas that we are systematically expanding. This capacity enhancement allows us to serve the demand of our customers in the tyre and technical rubber-products industry even better. We are very optimistic overall regarding future growth in the rubber industry,” commented Dr. Klaus Engel, Chairman of the Board of Degussa GmbH at the opening of the plant.

Brazil is a core market for the Degussa’a Advanced Fillers & Pigments Business Unit. In the Brazilian market, around 90 per cent of the demand for carbon black comes from the tyre and technical rubber articles industry, and 10 per cent is used as pigment in plastics, dyes, enamels and print inks.

“South America is particularly interesting for the Business Unit as a growth region. The automotive industry and particularly the tyre industry are growing continuously there, also because export volumes are growing. Many tyre manufacturers even export most of their production, particularly to the North American market. To this extent, we regard this region, along with Asia, as the focus of our investment activities,” added Thomas Hermann, Head of the Advanced Fillers & Pigments Business Unit.

Around 55 million tyres and 2.6 million vehicles were produced in Brazil in 2006, a third of each destined for export.