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TCI Sanmar Chemicals, a 100 percent subsidiary of India’s Sanmar Group, is planning to invest $15 million in Egypt in 2023 for expanding its production capacity for calcium chloride and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) by implementing four new production lines with a total capacity of 225,000 tonnes per year.
"The project would take two years to be completed after receiving the necessary government approvals to start implementing operations," P S Jayaraman, Chairman of TCI Sanmar Chemicals told Zawya Projects in an exclusive interview.
He said PVC production is expected to grow to 350,000 metric tonnes (MT) by March 2023 versus 245,000 MT achieved in 2021 with full capacity of 400,000 MT expected to be reached by the end of 2023.
Jayaraman said the company is targeting sales revenue in the range of $550- $600 million in 2023.
TCI Sanmar had recently signed an MOU with the Saudi Ministry of Investment to secure supply of vinyl chloride, which is essential raw material for ethylene PVC production.
The company is also planning to set up a loading station (terminal) in El-Gamil area in Port Said with an initial investment of $160 million to import ethylene and export its products.
“We plan to use both self-financing and banks for financing the project, which needs about two years to be completed after a period of 15 months to have the government approvals and licenses,” the TCI Sanmar chief said.
He said the company successfully overcame logistics and operational challenges during 2021-22 to cap off an extraordinary year.
“The company managed to overcome challenging times, which included overall cost increases particularly in freight and transportation, and lower production of PVC, due to technical issues that cropped up in Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) operations. However, we have managed to turn operations around and develop customised and innovative products and technologies to suit the complex needs of our customers.”
He pointed out that a strong dollar coupled with high exchange rates have impacted the company’s exports from Egypt.
S Ganeshkumar, TCI Sanmar’s Managing Director, said the company invested $1.5 billion to date in two phases to transform into a world-class manufacturing facility for Caustic Soda, PVC, and Calcium Chloride Granules.
“Today, TCI Sanmar enjoys a powerful reputation and prominent position as the largest integrated producer of Caustic Soda and PVC in the entire MENA region with state-of-the-art technologies and consistent value creation,” he said.
Jayaraman added: “The company became the first in the MENA and African region to tap into unconventional ways to produce fossil fuel-dependent PVC. It also became the first in petrochemical industry to issue an environmental product declaration for PVC.”
The company uses non-fossil fuel based raw material namely Bio Ethylene, partly in manufacture of PVC and is the only producer of Green attributed PVC in the world.
Last week, TCI Sanmar released its fourth GRI [Global Reporting Initiative] Standards, Sustainability Report titled ‘Road to Green Production’ in alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and Egypt’s national sustainable development strategy ‘Egypt Vision 2030.’
Read More: Egypt's TCI Sanmar Chemicals charts $400mln investment plan
(Reporting by Marwa Abo Almajd; Editing by Anoop Menon)
