Birla chalks out global footprint for carbon black

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Mumbai, Jun 4: After becoming a global force in the aluminium business, the Aditya Birla group is aiming at a bigger presence in carbon black business. The $24 billion group has decided to set up greenfield projects in Oman and Mexico to consolidate its status as the fourth largest producer of carbon black globally, with a capacity of 7,35,000 tonne across Thailand, Egypt, China and India.

Carbon black is one of the most profitable businesses within the group. The facility in Mexico will be about 2 lakh tonne, built in phases, while the one in Oman is still on the drawing board.

US major Cabot with 1.8 million tonne is the largest player in carbon black, followed by German major Degussa (1.4 mpta) and Columbian Chemicals with 1.1 million mtpa. With fresh capacities in faster growing emerging markets, Birla will inch closer to its global competitors. Expansion will raise its capacity to 1.2 million tonne, taking it to the third spot among the largest carbon black players globally.

“We are already booked for our current and proposed capacities and we need to grow to service our clients,” said Bharat Singh, managing director, Aditya Birla Nuvo. “We have excelled in environment-friendly manufacturing and Oman and Mexico are next on our radar to cater to the growing demand from tyre manufacturers,” he added.

Though the business is scattered across geographies and spread across companies, the group has unified its product branding and all companies now market their products under the common brand name of Birla Carbon and managed by Rakesh Jain, global business head of the group’s carbon black business.