Dow and Saudi Arabia's E.A. Juffali & Brothers to Build Polyol Blends Manufacturing Plant in Jeddah

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Dow Formulated Systems (DFS), part of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) (Midland, Michigan), has entered into a business alliance with E. A. Juffali & Brothers (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia), one of the largest commercial enterprises in Saudi Arabia. The two firms will combine their offerings in the polyurethane systems business and will build a manufacturing facility to produce Dow-formulated polyol blends in Jeddah this year. Polyols manufactured at the facility will be used in Dow's polyurethane systems.

DFS combines the Dow Group's epoxy systems and polyurethane systems businesses, including research and development, technical service, and production, to serve the specific needs of regional customers. The division boasts a global network of 30 system houses.

Dow's alliance with E. A. Juffali & Brothers began in 1976, when the latter became Dow's distributors and sales representatives in Saudi Arabia. In 1985, the two firms formed the joint venture Arabian Chemical Company (Polystyrene) Limited to manufacture insulating materials under the Styrofoam brand. Arabian Chemical Company Latex Limited, another joint venture, was formed in 1993 to produce latex used for carpet manufacturing and in the construction industry. Presently, the two joint ventures together operate three manufacturing facilities in the Middle East: one each in Jeddah and Jubail in Saudi Arabia, and the third in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in the United Arab Emirates.

Among their several applications, polyurethanes are playing an increasingly important role in the manufacture of insulating materials that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and find use in low-energy buildings. Dow claims that more than 90% of the products sold by its polyurethanes division to the building and construction market are used in insulation, including insulation boards for walls, roofs and floors, insulated metal panels for industrial and commercial buildings, and in cold-storage rooms.

Dow is expanding its polyurethanes business not only in the Middle East, but also in India, where the firm recently inaugurated its expanded polyurethanes systems house and formulated apolyol manufacturing facility at Kalwa in Thane, Maharashtra. In December last year, Dow Izolan, a joint venture between Dow and leading Russian polyurethane producer NPP Izolan, inaugurated its new polyurethane systems manufacturing facility in Vladimir, Russia.

The same month, Dow announced that it had completed an expansion project at its polyols-manufacturing facility at Terneuzen in the Netherlands, making the plant the largest and most flexible of the 11 polyols production sites of the company. Additional output from this expansion will be supplied to customers in Europe, Middle East, India and Africa.

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