The first trade fair after months of pandemic. China, a market of great interest to the Group in its aim to grow in the automotive, home appliance and consumer goods sectors

• April 05, 2021

RadiciGroup High Performance Polymers – the Group business area engaged in the manufacture and sale of high performance engineering polymers – will be participating in Chinaplas 2021 trade fair, to be held from 13 to 16 April at the Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center.
 

Chinaplas marks RadiciGroup's return to the world of trade fairs after months of pandemic, during which no business events could be organized. Together with High Performance Polymers, the Group’s Specialty Chemicals Business Area will also be present at the event (Hall 17, Booth G145), exhibiting its wide offering of polyamide 6, 6.6, 6.10, 6.12 polymers and recycled polymers.
 

“There is a lot of excitement surrounding this event,” Alberto Sessolo, country manager China of RadiciGroup High Performance Polymers, said. “as it is the first Chinaplas where Chinese nationals will make up nearly all the visitors. For us, it is an opportunity to meet with customers, strengthen existing partnerships and discuss future projects,” Sessolo continued. “Since April 2020, the Chinese market has experienced a strong recovery in both internal demand and export. As per tradition, we will be focusing mainly on automotive and its e?mobility evolution, while also keeping a close eye on the home appliance and consumer goods sectors, where volumes have seen a steady increase.”
 

In China, in order to meet the rising demand and ensure the necessary support for current and future development activities, RadiciGroup High Performance Polymers has begun work on the construction of a new 25,000-square-meter plant equipped with optimized internal logistic systems that will increase production capacity by 30,000 tons/year: a total investment of almost EUR 20 million, in the Suxiang District Industrial Park in the city of Suzhou, in accordance with expectations for strong business growth in the Asian region.

MARCH 23, 2021   GLOBAL

Advance Denim, one of the top three Chinese denim manufacturers, became a U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol member – noting that it joined because it wanted to source more sustainable fiber through this sustainability initiative. Advance Denim joins more than 200 other Trust Protocol member mills and manufacturers which play a key role in providing a more secure and transparent supply chain to brands and retailers.

The Trust Protocol provides fashion brands and retailers with the critical assurances they need to show the cotton fiber element of their supply chain is more responsibly grown. It works by providing member brands such as Gap Inc. and Next access to the Trust Protocol credit system to validate consumption of cotton and associated credit; and to aggregate year-over-year data in six sustainability areas: water use, greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, soil carbon, soil loss, and land use efficiency.

In a news release, Advance Denim stated that as a Trust Protocol member, Advance Denim now can provide its customers with all-important confidence about the U.S. cotton in their sourcing mix. Its membership also comes at a time when demand for denim is increasing amongst brands seeking to satisfy customers and their love for the versatile fabric. Recent Google Trends data reveals that online searches for new denim styles have increased exponentially over the last year across the world, with a 1300% increase in ‘denim masks’ and 110% increase in ’denim cargo shorts.’

Trust Protocol President Gary Adams said, “Advance Denim is committed to playing a leading role in sustainable solutions for the denim industry, and we are delighted to be supporting them in this ambition. Collaboration is key, as with each member that joins, we have greater resources to help provide tools and knowledge to not only help U.S. growers improve their sustainability practices but to also give more mills, manufacturers, brands and retailers the supply chain confidence they need.”

------------------------------------------------------------

New production units and increased production capacity for engineering polymers

RadiciGroup High Performance Polymers strengthens its global presence with investments of over EUR 35 million: new plants in Mexico and China, expansion in Europe and North America

New Radici Plastics Mexico plant

Investments of over EUR 35 million in business growth, sustainability and innovation.  The RadiciGroup High Performance Polymers Business Area is adding significantly to its global production capacity with new construction and installations in North America, Europe and China.
 

“The High Performance Polymers business is highly strategic to our Group,” said Maurizio Radici, vice president and COO of RadiciGroup. “The business area is a network of production and sales units located throughout Europe, North America, South America and Asia that can meet the needs of both local and global customers with a complete, innovative and sustainable product offering. This is the reason we have decided to strengthen our presence even further by setting up new and more technologically advanced manufacturing facilities, so as to increase our overall production capacity and efficiency level worldwide.”
 

Production capacity has been increased by 20,000 tons/year in North America, namely, at Radici Plastics USA and Radici Plastics Mexico. In particular, a new site was inaugurated in Mexico, extending over an area of 20,000 square metres, which is needed to support current and future development.

In China, work has begun on the construction of a new 25,000-square metre plant that will boost production capacity by 30,000 tons/year. The total investment of almost EUR 20 million in Suxiang District Industrial Park, in the City of Suzhou, was made in light of expectations for strong growth in the High Performance Polymers business in the Asian region.
 

New Radici Plastics Suzhou plant - China

RadiciGroup High Performance Polymers is also growing steadily in Europe: work is underway to expand production capacity by 15,000 tons/year at the German Radici Plastics GmbH site. This installation complements the enhancements made at the Italian Radici Novacips facility over the last two years. Europe remains one of the Group's core markets, especially for the automotive, electrical/electronics and consumer goods sectors.
 

Moreover, following the recent establishment of Radici InNova – the RadiciGroup consortium company that pools the research and innovation activities of the various divisions of the Group, in line with a sustainability strategy based on the circular economy – RadiciGroup High Performance Polymers is strengthening its Research and Development Centre, with the aim of studying innovative, increasingly more circularity-oriented materials and application solutions for markets and supply chains demanding lower environmental impact products.
 

“After considering current developments and future market trends, we decided to invest more than EUR 35 million and distribute the funds among various Group sites on different continents,” Mr. Radici concluded, “Our aim is to be proactive for all our customers – to be their strategic partner and develop innovative and sustainable solutions for the future by working together."