Styron to build new latex production unit at its facility in Zhangjiagang, China, to better serve growing demand for latex in China's paper and paper board industry, expects production to begin Q4 2012

Lorena Madrigal

BERWYN, Pennsylvania , April 13, 2011 (press release) – Styron today announced plans to expand its latex capacity at its Zhangjiagang, China production facility. The projected additional capacity of latex will help to better serve the growing demand for latex in China’s paper and paper board industry, which is projected to grow significantly over the next few years.

“The China market continues to show tremendous growth, and this expansion reinforces our leadership in meeting customer needs”, said Chris Pappas, President and CEO of Styron LLC. “Zhangjiagang is the ideal location for Styron to expand our latex production and offerings. We’ve built and operated a plant on this site since 2002 and will continue to benefit from its strategic location, local resources, employees and community support.”

The new unit, expected to commence production in Q4 2012, will be adjacent to Styron’s existing latex manufacturing units at Zhangjiagang, and will complement Styron’s other latex production facilities located in Korea, Indonesia and Australia. The expanded latex production facility will significantly enhance Styron’s ability to help regional customers move to optimised product formulations with higher ‘value in use’.

“As a world leader in Styrene-Butadiene Latex technologies, Styron offers a wide range of custom-engineered solutions that improve end-use properties of paper and paperboard and flooring to help manufacturers compete in the global marketplace”, said Marco Levi, Vice President Emulsion Polymers for Styron. “The expansion at the Zhangjiagang site allows us to continue our strong tradition of being close to our customers to help them develop their next generation of products, and also meets the growing and diverse needs of markets served by our performance latex business”.

About Styron

Styron is a leading global materials company, dedicated to innovate and deliver for its customers. Styron's unique and balanced product portfolio brings together plastics, rubber and latex businesses that share feedstocks, operations, customers and end users. Styron has a leadership position in its two flagship products, polystyrene and latex. The company benefits from global scale, a long-standing tradition of unrivaled customer relationships and a robust innovation pipeline. Styron has approximately $5 billion in revenue (2010), with 20 manufacturing sites in all geographies. Styron's 2,100 employees are committed to listen to customers' needs and provide them with innovative and sustainable solutions in markets such as appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, commercial transportation, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires.

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