CCIL (Continental Carbon India) to set up carbon black project at Vizag

Continental Carbon India Limited (CCIL) today announced its first major investment in a greenfield carbon black project being set up at Visakhapatnam.



The company will invest $100 million in the project, which will have a capacity of 140,000 tonne in Phase 1, in the next 18 months. CCIL is the wholly-owned subsidiary of US-based Continental Carbon company now owned by Taiwan Cement Group.



The company's Ghaziabad plant, which it acquired in 1999 from Oriental Carbon, currently produces 65,000 tonnes of carbon black a year. While the existing production is being fully consumed by domestic clients, the additional production that would come from the project at the port city is meant for exports.



Carbon black is a fine carbon powder produced by burning the feedstock, which is essentially the residue that comes out from a crude oil refinery, and is used as a reinforcing filler in rubber compounds by tyre manufacturers, among others.



According to Kim K T Pan, president, Continental Carbon, the Visakhapatnam project will be developed in three phases with each phase having 140,000 tonne capacity involving $100 million investment each over the next 10 years. The company would also be setting up a 40-Megawatt cogeneration power plant in each of the three phases.



Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy formally launched the ground breaking for the company's project at a function held here on Wednesday. Taiwan Cement Group chairman Leslie Koo said the group would look for more investment opportunities in the state in future.



CCIL's turnover currently stand at $100 million and the new plant is expected to generate $200 million in revenues. As of now, the carbon black produced at Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh is being consumed domestically. Once the new capacity comes into picture, we want to export 50 per cent of the production to other countries as there is not enough demand in the domestic. However, there is a gradual growth in demand for carbon black India and we will be in a position to meet the demand as it continues to grow on the back of expanding automotive industry, Pan said.



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