Kolkata, April 28 (Inditop.com) City-based Phillips Carbon Black Ltd (PCBL) is planning to invest around Rs.200 crore to set up a 50,000-tonne plant over the next two years, a company official said here Wednesday.
“We need to set up a new carbon black plant though we are yet to decide on the location where it would come up. It could be a new location or the existing ones. We will take a call within 4-6 weeks,” company vice-chairman Sanjeev Goenka told reporters.
The RPG group company is currently setting up a 50,000-tonne plant at Mundra in Gujarat. It will be commissioned some time between October and December.
PCBL will invest around Rs.350 crore over the next two years for these projects, which includes 18 MW power plants at Mundra and Kochi.
In the next two years, the company hopes to increase the annual capacity to 460,000 tonnes from present 360,000 tonnes.
The company has plants in Durgapur (West Bengal), Mundra and Palej (Gujarat) and Kochi (Kerala).
PCBL has entered into a joint venture agreement to set up its first overseas carbon black plant in Vietnam having a capacity of 65,000 tonnes with a captive power plant of 12 MW. Total investment for this project will be in the tune of $63 million. PCBL will hold 80 percent in the JV. Commercial operation is expected to commence in 2012.
PCBL, along with other players in the industry, is mulling to hike prices of carbon black, which currently sales at Rs.45 per kg.
“The industry is meeting tomorrow (Thursday) to decide on the issue,” Goenka said.
The company earned a net profit of Rs.36.26 crore for the fourth quarter (January-March) of the 2009-10 financial year.
