AUDIA INTERNATIONAL
Lower electricity costs drive compounder's plan to invest in South US / Shale gas not a factor
All that glitters in shale gas apparently is not gold. Despite easy access to cheap gas feedstock from the Marcellus basin, US plastics compounding and colouring specialist Audia International (Washington, Pennsylvania / USA) decided to locate its newest US production facility in Georgia because of lower electricity costs, Todd Gummersbach, the company’s director of corporate development, has told a US business newspaper.
The Pennsylvania-headquartered company that owns polyolefin compounder Washington Penn Plastics (WPP, Washington, Pennsylvania / USA; www.washingtonpennplastic.com), liquid masterbatch specialist Uniform Color Company (UCC, Holland, Michigan / USA; www.uniformcolor.com) and compounder Southern Polymer (Atlanta, Georgia / USA; www.southernpolymer.com) is investing USD 50m in a new complex at LaFayette, Georgia, from where all three group companies will supply the automotive, appliance, construction, consumer products and packaging industries.
Even if the abundant output of natural gas from Marcellus Shale is lowering the heating bill in western Pennsylvania, Gummersbach said natural gas costs do not have a major impact on Audia’s operations. Moreover, apart from the “lower and more transparent” electricity prices in the Southeast, he said rail logistics were a major factor. LaFayette in Walker County, Georgia, is considered part of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, metropolitan area, a transportation hub and recently a focus of foreign automotive transplants such as Volkswagen. The Audia project is receiving financial aid under the county’s economic development scheme.
Along with announcing plans for the Georgia facility, privately owned Audia International last year said it would acquire the liquid masterbatch business of BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) in Clermont de l’Oise / France – see Plasteurope.com of 20.02.2014. Washington Penn Plastic also agreed to acquire and license assets of ExxonMobil Chemical’s (Baytown, Texas / USA; www.exxonmobil.com) sole US plant producing speciality PP compounds, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana – see Plasteurope.com of 28.07.2014.
The Pennsylvania-headquartered company that owns polyolefin compounder Washington Penn Plastics (WPP, Washington, Pennsylvania / USA; www.washingtonpennplastic.com), liquid masterbatch specialist Uniform Color Company (UCC, Holland, Michigan / USA; www.uniformcolor.com) and compounder Southern Polymer (Atlanta, Georgia / USA; www.southernpolymer.com) is investing USD 50m in a new complex at LaFayette, Georgia, from where all three group companies will supply the automotive, appliance, construction, consumer products and packaging industries.
Even if the abundant output of natural gas from Marcellus Shale is lowering the heating bill in western Pennsylvania, Gummersbach said natural gas costs do not have a major impact on Audia’s operations. Moreover, apart from the “lower and more transparent” electricity prices in the Southeast, he said rail logistics were a major factor. LaFayette in Walker County, Georgia, is considered part of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, metropolitan area, a transportation hub and recently a focus of foreign automotive transplants such as Volkswagen. The Audia project is receiving financial aid under the county’s economic development scheme.
Along with announcing plans for the Georgia facility, privately owned Audia International last year said it would acquire the liquid masterbatch business of BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) in Clermont de l’Oise / France – see Plasteurope.com of 20.02.2014. Washington Penn Plastic also agreed to acquire and license assets of ExxonMobil Chemical’s (Baytown, Texas / USA; www.exxonmobil.com) sole US plant producing speciality PP compounds, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana – see Plasteurope.com of 28.07.2014.
07.01.2015 Plasteurope.com [230099-0]
Published on 07.01.2015