As part of a EUR 100m capital spending project at its Brazilian sites to be implemented by the end of 2009, the Bayer group (Leverkusen / Germany; www.bayer.com) plans to upgrade its production facilities for polyurethane starting materials, among other projects. "Brazil is our biggest market in Latin America, and we want to further expand our position in this growth region," managing board chairman Werner Wenning said at a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the Belford Roxo site, near Rio de Janeiro.

The spending on PU focuses on Belford Roxo, where a large chunk of Bayer’s EUR 40m budget for the site will be spent by sub-group Bayer MaterialScience (BMS, Leverkusen; www.bayerbms.com) on modernising and technically upgrading its facilities for MDI, polyether polyols and “BaySystems” polyurethane systems. A BMS spokesman declined to provide details on individual projects. The German company supplies all of its Latin American MDI customers from Belford Roxo.

In 2007, Bayer had sales of EUR 3.2 bn in Latin America, with Brazil accounting for around EUR 1.2 bn of the total.