HOUSTON – Orion S.A. (NYSE: OEC), a specialty chemicals company, today celebrated the completion of its first greenfield project – a carbon black plant in eastern China that will supply fast-growing demand in Asia.
The facility in the city of Huaibei in Anhui province will produce carbon black for a variety of applications, including coatings, printing inks, rubber, polymers, fiber and rubber. The site’s two production lines have a total capacity of 70 kilotons per year.
“The Huaibei facility is a huge milestone for Orion. The state-of-the-art plant enables us to better support our Chinese customers with products that are made in China,” Orion CEO Corning Painter said. “Now we can reallocate production lines in the U.S. and Europe so that we can increase supply to customers in those markets.”
Orion’s other plant in China is in Qingdao in the eastern province of Shandong. The facility, built in 1994, produces carbon black grades for tires, mechanical rubber goods and specialty applications.
Painter commended everyone on the Huaibei project team for overcoming the extreme challenges posed by the Covid-19 virus.
“Despite the constant disruption during the worst periods of the pandemic, our employees, contractors and leadership team kept the project on track,” the CEO said. “As always, we put the safety, health and the welfare of our people first, providing nutritious meals, warm beds, testing and medical care. But still, it was the heroic dedication of our team that delivered this project under extremely trying circumstances.”
About Orion S.A.
Orion S.A. (NYSE: OEC) is a leading global supplier of carbon black, a solid form of carbon produced as powder or pellets. The material is made to customers’ exacting specifications for tires, coatings, ink, batteries, plastics and numerous other specialty, high-performance applications. Carbon black is used to tint, colorize, provide reinforcement, conduct electricity, increase durability and add UV protection. Orion has four innovation centers and produces carbon black at 15 plants worldwide, offering the most diverse variety of production processes in the industry. The company’s corporate lineage goes back more than 160 years to Germany, where it operates the world’s longest-running carbon black plant. Orion is a leading innovator, applying a deep understanding of customers’ needs to deliver sustainable solutions. For more information, please visit orioncarbons.com.
Contacts:
William Foreman
Director of Corporate Communications and
Government Affairs
Orion S.A.
Direct: +1 832-445-3305
Mobile: +1 281-889-7833
Wendy Wilson
Head of Investor Relations
Orion S.A.
Direct: +1 281-974-0155
