American Chemical Giant Moves Production Centers to China; TEDA Will Become the World's Largest Carbon Black Base

TIANJIN, China, Aug. 22, 2006 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Tianjin Economic- Technological Development Area (TEDA) announced today that the rapidly increased output of vehicle tires in China has accelerated the investment in China by US-based Cabot Corporation, a world-leader in carbon black.

Kennett F. Burnes, Cabot Corporation's Chairman, President and CEO, says that a great number of orders have flooded in one after another since the beginning of June, this year, when their plant entered trial production, and which has now far exceeded its production capacity. In order to serve customer needs, Cabot Corporation had to import carbon black. The operation of the TEDA Phase I Project will further strengthen the advantages of Cabot Corporation in carbon black production in China. It's reported that Cabot Corporation aims to build, in TEDA, the world's largest carbon black production base by 2010 and to make it capable of producing 200,000 tons of carbon black annually. Thereby resulting in the Binhai New Area achieving a more noticeable cluster effect within the chemical industry.

At the end of 2004, Cabot (China) Investment Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Coking & Chemical Corporation began to jointly build a carbon black base with huge investments in the TEDA chemical area with the aim of making TEDA the largest special carbon black production base in the Asia-Pacific Region. At the same time, Cabot Corporation gradually expanded the scale of its carbon black project in Tianjin. The production line put into use in Phase I can turn out 61,000 tons of quality carbon black of different varieties for rubber use every year and has become a high-quality carbon black production line with the largest single line capacity in the world. The Phase II Project involving a total investment of USD60 million is busily under construction.

Like many other transnational companies that have made investments in Tianjin, Cabot Chemical (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. uses advanced technology and matured management experiences to implement strict and effective environmental protection controls on its production.

Currently, Cabot Corporation has spent 12% of its total investment in Tianjin on environmental protection. The raw materials it uses are mostly imported raw material oil for carbon black that contains less sulfur, while also adopting the world's most advanced desulfurizing technology to turn exhaust gas generated from production of carbon black into steam, then supply that to other enterprises in TEDA for them to use as energy, thus demonstrating the efficient recycling of energy. Cabot Corporation also takes measures in collecting and reusing rainwater so as to reduce the production cost and promote recycling of resources.

According to industry insiders, there still exists a gap of nearly 100,000 tons of carbon black in China every year and the current production technology is relatively backward. This is the force that drives Cabot Corporation to enter the Chinese market. In recent years, Cabot Corporation has sped up its investment in China. Thus far, Cabot Corporation is busy making arrangements to move its global carbon black production centers from Europe and America to China.

About Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA)

Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) was established in 1984 with the approval of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the first state-class economic-technological development areas in the country.

TEDA is located in the center of a larger area bordering Bohai Sea and the east of the Asia-Europe Land Bridge, thus serving as the gate to the two super cities of Beijing and Tianjin, and the throat connecting the northeast of China. By the end of 2005, 4,067 foreign companies have landed in TEDA. Of the Fortune 500 companies, 57 multinational companies, from 10 countries and regions, including such well-established multinational giants as Motorola, Samsung and Toyota, invested in 123 enterprises in TEDA. In 2000, "Fortune" listed TEDA as one of the most highly recommended economic areas in China. In 2002 UNIDO listed TEDA as one of the most dynamic areas of China together with Shenzhen, Suzhou, Wenzhou, Shanghai Pudong and Xi'an High-tech Park.

For more information, please visit: http://www.investteda.org/ .