The Weekly News Update is a weekly roundup of business news from around the Asia-Pacific region, covering Fusion Consulting's core industry practices: chemicals, consumer & retail, financial services, industrial & logistics, information & communication technology, life science and media & leisure. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.    Major chemical company expansion in Asia-Pacific   Rohm & Haas has been named the most vigorous chemical company in  Asia-Pacific in the latest Asia-Pacific Chemical Business Vitality Index report,  out-competing its chemical and energy sector peers with a winning combination of  regional presence, revenue performance and innovation. Request your free copy  here.

Chemical

China - Akzo Nobel starts building China plant Source: China Economic Information Service, 8 March 2008 Akzo Nobel, which has set up more than 20 factories and workshops since it entered the Chinese market in the 1980s, has formed a new enterprise to create its largest China production base in the eastern Zhejiang Province. The new chemical enterprise, Akzo Nobel Chemicals (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. was set up on 6 March 2008 in the chemical industrial zone of Ningbo City's Zhenhai District. The enterprise's main products, chelates and ethenamine, are expected to start being manufactured in 2009 and 2010, respectively, with an initial investment of EUR250 million (US$385 million). China - Freudenberg builds lubricant plant in Shanghai Source: Shanghai Daily, 7 March 2008 German company Freudenberg Chemical Specialities KG plans to invest additional RMB200 million (US$28 million) in building a new plant for specialty lubricants in Shanghai. The site, in Qingpu District, is designed for a maximum annual capacity of almost 13,000 metric tons of lubricants as well as release agents, or de-molding agents used to prevent the molded object from sticking to the surface of the mold. Compared to the global stagnant lube demand, China's lube demand rose almost 50% between 1995 and 2005, of which the annual consumption of all types of lubricants is about 4 million to 4.5 million ton, ranking second largest in the world. India - Petrochem sector may face slowdown in investment Source: Business Line, 7 March 2008 The Rs650 billion (US$16 billion) Indian petrochemicals sector, which has announced a capacity expansion programme of three million tonnes in the next three to four years, may face a slowdown in investments due to rising capital costs and global shortage of project equipment and manpower. The 5% duty proposed in the Union Budget on import of naphtha, a key feedstock for the petrochemical sector, is likely to further slowdown investments in this sector. While Reliance Industries is setting up a 900,000 tonne polypropylene plant and a two million tonnes cracker facility in Jamnagar, Haldia Petrochemicals is expanding its capacity from 1 mt to 1.4 mt. The other major players that are mulling expansion include GAIL, Indian Oil Corporation, Supreme and Chemplast. View an example of our experience in this industry. Back to list of articles. Visit our website to sign up for free intelligence on Asian markets.

This Weekly News Update is a free newsletter, providing a round-up of the week's Asia-Pacific news from our core industry practices. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.

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