Shanmugananth Muthupandian said that Dow Polyurethanes' strategy in India, the Middle East and Africa will further enhance the value chain.
Muthupandian is the polyurethane commercial director of The Dow Chemical International. He spoke at the polyurethane innovation day in Mumbai recently.
He said the company will look at investments in polyurethane compounding plants in India, the Middle East and Africa.
Dow has increased its investment in India in recent months. Earlier this year, Dow Polyurethanes at Ratnagiri Maharashtra
Lote Parshuram opens a second polyurethane assembly plant. Its target markets are consumer durables, infrastructure and automobiles.
Muthupandian declined to disclose details of the capacity of the Ratnagiri plant, saying only that it is a modular site and that further capacity will soon be increased.
This year, Dow of India also opened a Technology Center (DITC) in Navi Mumbai. The laboratory is dedicated to the development of polyurethane applications.
Muthupandian said: "The previous focus was on building capacity for products such as MDI and polyols, but now the focus is on being one step ahead of the value chain. The approach is to understand customer needs and design customer-centric products.
The polyurethane business unit is also interested in opportunities outside India and plans to open more polyurethane compounding plants within five years. Muthupandian said: "We are considering opening more polyurethane compounding plants in the Middle East and North Africa in the past 5 years to meet market demand."
The expansion complements more than 20 production, technology and development sites in these regions.