Tata Refractories is on its way to establish what would be the first Tata Group greenfield project in China

Tata Refractories is all set to put up a plant in China early next year. In what would be the first Tata Group greenfield project in China, it is a part of Tata Refractories' strategy to become a global refractory company and to facilitate value addition and smoother production of world class products.

The new plant will be located at the chemical and metallurgical industrial park area in Bayuquan, Yingkou City in China which is conveniently located about 40 kilometres from raw material sources and 8 kilometres from the seaport facilitating transportation. It will be set up at a capital cost of Rs 27 crore for production of Mag-C bricks with a capacity of 30,000 mtpa.

This strategic initiative has been taken to leverage the availability of magnesite in China and also to manufacture and supply cost-effective mag-C bricks to customers. This is also in line with Chinese govt policy of restricting raw material supply and encouraging value-added finished products. A new WOFE (Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise) has been formed for this purpose and the initial groundwork like land procurement, finalisation of drawings has been completed.

The foundation stone was laid on April 28, 2005 by TRL managing director C D Kamath, and the groundbreaking ceremony of the China plant was performed exactly a year later by Kamath, on April 28, 2006. The plant is scheduled to be commissioned by January 1, 2007.

This project has received wholehearted support from the Chinese government, and the Tata brand name and TRL's approach have facilitated speedy execution of the project. P B Panda, the erstwhile G M (operations) of the company has been appointed as CEO of the China plant, and a dedicated team of key executives from operations, finance, and projects has also been identified to commission the plant.

Uploaded on September 21, 2006