Chemical Processing Industry Continues Growth with Increasing Number of Grassroot Plants in 2012

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Twenty-five plants in the Chemical Processing Industry (CPI) have started operations this year in 11 different regions in the U.S. and Canada. They manufacture a spectrum of chemicals covering 13 different standard industry classification (SIC) codes.

One of the larger investments of approximately $100 million was by NA Industries Incorporated (Chattanooga, Tennessee) in the construction of a polymers plant in Pasadena, Texas. The 60,000-metric-ton per year superabsorbent polymer (SAP) plant began construction back in November 2010 and was eventually completed in June 2012. NA Industries added 60 new employees. NA Industries is now considering building another SAP unit, and the construction kickoff will be in the third quarter of 2013. The unit will start up about one year later.

Industrial Info expects that an additional 17 plants will begin manufacturing in the U.S. and Canada by the end of the year.

There is a bio-based succinic acid plant that is currently being constructed by Myriant Technologies (Quincy, Massachusetts). Construction of the 30 million-pound-per-year plant is expected to be complete in the fourth quarter. This $80 million plant has been under construction since March and is expected to add approximately 30 jobs to the workforce in Lake Providence, Louisiana.

In the U.S. and Canada, the CPI is expecting 42 plants to start manufacturing, and this will add a total of 1,527 jobs. This is on par with 2011 when 40 plants began operations as the economy started showing signs of improvement. The growing number of new plants over the last two years is a sign that the economy is continuing to improve, not only from the economic downturn of 2008, but even prior to it. From 2006 and 2010, an average of 26 grassroot plants started up each year. In 2007 specifically, only 18 plants started up. In 2006, 33 plants started up; this was the most number of plants that started up in a year from 2006 to 2010.

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