Carbone Lorraine Builds $48 Million Graphite Base in China

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--France's Le Carbone Lorraine, one of the world's 500 largest companies, completed a $48 million, 5,000-ton graphite-production base in Chongqing in southwestern China. The project is the company's largest investment in China, and it mainly produces isostatic graphite, which is used in the manufacturing of electrical equipment, semiconductors and automobiles, among other things. With the new plant, Carbone Lorraine is the world's second-largest isostatic graphite producer, and the company hopes to double its worldwide production capacity over the long-term.

The base aims to provide graphite for the entire Asian market. Currently, China needs 50,000 tons of special graphite materials every year, and 80% of the materials are from foreign suppliers, including Japan and the United States Carbone Lorraine plans to derive 20% to 25% of its sales from Asia by 2011.

In 2004, Carbone Lorraine entered Chongqing by creating a subsidiary to produce graphite. The company had originally planned to invest $30 million but decided to expand it to $48 million in 2006.

Carbone Lorraine has developed industrial applications of carbon and graphite over a century ago. It now has 6,500 employees in about 40 countries. In 2006, the company's sales volume reached about $947 million, up 10% from the previous year, with 44% gained from Europe, 36% from North America and 15% from Asia.

Chongqing was designated as a municipality directly under the central government by China's National Congress in 1997 as part of the nation's strategy to develop its poor and remote western regions. Since then, the area has attracted more than 70 of the world's largest companies.

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