Johor’s strategic location and growth potential ideal as Asian hub for one of the global market leaders in the nitrile latex glove industry

Johor,13 October 2009 – PolymerLatex, launched today its world’s largest and first nitrile latex plant outside of Europe here in Johor, Malaysia.

Headquartered in Marl, Germany, PolymerLatex is one of the leading experts in polymer dispersions. The company comes with 50 years of combined experience in the emulsion polymerisation sector and aims to position this plant here in Malaysia as a stepping stone into and around Asia. This PolymerLatex World Scale Synthetic Latex Plant will enable the entire region to tap into a single pool of resources that will bring PolymerLatex closer to all their customers.

An estimated of RM 250 million was invested in this state of the art plant. Equipped with the latest global scale technology, PolymerLatex has confirmed an output capacity of up to 100,000 tons per year will be achieved to meet both global and local demands.

“Our planned capacity is 100,000 tons of nitrile latex. We have built the infrastructure for future expansions, and with some added investment we will be able to add additional lines and substantially increase our capacity in a short time,” said Mr. Vinny Bhalla, Managing Director and CEO of PolymerLatex Sdn Bhd, “Looking at the current market growth and development we are able to envisage expansions in 2011/2012. We are fully prepared with sufficient capacity to participate in our customers’ vision of growth.”

Commitment Assured, Locally and Globally
The success factors in each individual application sector are based on various criteria. Therefore, to ensure that the plant is aligned with their customers’ vision of growth, PolymerLatex will provide customization and flexibility of products. The team in PolymerLatex will be able to support the customised solutions that will ensure the success of development of products and application of ideas.

PolymerLatex will also move its global glove research and developmental centre to Pasir Gudang. This is a clear testament of confidence placed in Malaysia’s vision as a global hub to serve the glove industry. As PolymerLatex now serves as a global partner of Malaysia to provide jobs and world-class training to all qualified Malaysians working in the first Asian plant while positioning Johor as its global hub for nitrile latex related technologies.

Here in Malaysia
This testament is linked to the success of the Iskandar Malaysia initiative. Officially launched by His Royal Highness the Sultan of Johor, Iskandar Malaysia has become Southern Peninsular Malaysia’s most developed region. Due to this project, development was one of the focal points for Pasir Gudang as it fell into the category of “Flagship Zone” within the Iskandar Malaysia project. In addition to that, Pasir Gudang, was also prioritized for the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) as it fell into the “Special Economic Corridor” (SEC) zone.

Commenting further on the launch, Dr Dieter Hesterwerth, Managing Director and COO of PolymerLatex GmbH, “Malaysia offers high political stability, favorable infrastructure and a resilient business environment. Its educated, productive and multi-lingual work force, together with its strategic location makes Malaysia ideal for our largest nitrile latex plant outside of Europe and also our first latex plant in the Far East region. We also hope to be able to share best practices and contribute to Malaysia’s development.”

“Our local workforce is generally educated and competent.  We have universities, colleges and training institutes aplenty to ensure this. However, hands-on exposure to modern working practices, world-class work ethics and state of the art technology is a necessity in order to create a truly progressive and industrious workforce. This is where corporations such as PolymerLatex can add value in providing Malaysian workers with much needed exposure to stay competitive and relevant at the global stage,” added Yang Berhormat Tan Kok Hong, Chairman of the Johor State Committee for the International Trade and Industry, Energy, Water, Communications and the Environment, who was present to officially launch the plant, “Therefore we are very pleased to welcome PolymerLatex to Johor and we pledge our full support for the success of your investment and we look forward to a lasting relationship.”

This will inevitably boost the relationship between Germany and Malaysia, as the countries have been close and have extensive economic relations. In 2008, trade was worth EUR 8.39 billion and currently Germany ranks 10th worldwide among Malaysia’s trading partners.

For more information about PolymerLatex, please visit http://www.polymerlatex.com