Why was Singapore chosen ahead of Thailand and Malaysia as the location for the new facility?

First and foremost, we have excellent procurement options for raw materials and feedstocks here. The chemical park on Jurong Island provides an outstanding procurement infrastructure. Other crucial factors are Singapore’s stability, its prime location in the Asia-Pacific region, the extremely well-trained workforce and the ideal environment it offers for new technologies. All these considerations made Singapore the obvious choice.

Why is LANXESS making the largest single investment in the company’s history in Asia?

Asia has a key role to play in LANXESS’s success. In addition, Asia’s rubber market is growing faster than any other in the world. China and India are predicting record annual growth of up to nine percent for this market. Asia thus plays an important strategic role for many of our customers, including major tire manufacturers. As a result, this region also offers excellent potential for the future of LANXESS.

Why doesn’t LANXESS supply the Asian market from other sites?

We are doing so already, but we can’t achieve our ambitious growth targets through imports alone. It is important to us to be close to our customers so that we can provide the best possible on-site service both quickly and flexibly.

What role does the new facility play with respect to LANXESS’s presence in Asia?

I can only reiterate the importance of Asia in LANXESS’s growth strategy. We will benefit to an increasing extent from the growth of Asian markets. The decision to build a new butyl rubber plant in Singapore represents a further key step towards achieving future growth in this region. The future belongs to Asia – and LANXESS is very much a part of this development.

Do other sites now need to be afraid of competition from Asia?

Not at all. The reason for going to Singapore was not to serve the global market from Asia. The products manufactured in Singapore are primarily intended to satisfy the huge demand on the Asian market.