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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sika says it has
started production of shotcrete admixtures at its main plant at Gournay-en-Bray,
northwest of Paris, said Chemweek.
Shotcrete
admixtures in the form of a set accelerator are used primarily in tunnel
construction, and the company notes that the market potential is considerable.
Europe alone is currently planning infrastructure-investment programs worth 750
billion Swiss francs ($834 billion) in total, with tunnel construction included
in these programs, it says. Tenders have been issued for tunnel-construction
projects with a combined length of 900 kilometers, with these projects set to
come onstream over the next few years, according to Sika.
"The
infrastructure construction market is generally characterized by a high level of
resilience in crises. Even in 2020 capital spending remains strong. With the
commissioning of the new facilities at the Gournay-en-Bray plant, our aim is to
tap into business potential in France and in north and western Europe, and
facilitate challenging shotcrete work in mining and tunneling projects with our
specialty products. At the same time, we are strengthening our supply chain and
competitiveness thanks to a sizeable reduction in logistics costs," says Ivo
Schaedler, regional manager/EMEA at Sika.
The company notes that state
investment is expected to drive the recovery of France’s construction sector in
2021, following a 4% contraction this year due to COVID-19. The French
government’s stimulus program of SFr105 billion will include investment in the
country's rail infrastructure and in extensive building renovations, the company
says. More than SFr37 billion in investment will be channeled into the Grand
Paris Express metro project by 2030, it adds.
As MRC reported earlier,
in August 2015, Swiss specialty chemicals company Sika opened its forth
production site in Russia. A new mortar factory and a plant to produce concrete
admixtures were opened in Volgograd, in southern Russia. Thus, at the existing
site in Lobnya, 30 km north of Moscow, a new production facility, which
manufactures polymers for concrete admixtures, came on stream.
According
to MRC's ScanPlast
report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the
first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene
polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the
same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the
eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports
plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020).
Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
Sika is a specialty
chemicals company with a leading position in the development and production of
systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing, and protecting
in the building sector and motor vehicle industry. Sika has subsidiaries in 101
countries around the world and manufactures in over 200 factories. Its more than
20,000 employees generated annual sales of CHF 7.09 billion in 2018. |
