Indianapolis, September 29 - Vertellus Specialties Inc. today announced plans to expand its vitamin B3 manufacturing capacity in Nantong, Jiangsu, China. Given the growing need for vitamins related to animal and human nutrition in the Chinese and Asian markets, Vertellus has developed an aggressive strategic plan to increase its presence in the region.
As part of this plan, Vertellus is proceeding with the engineering and permitting work to build a 3-cyanopyridine production unit at Nantong with capacity of 7,000 metric tons per year. Vertellus expects to break ground on this project in the beginning of 2009.
The expansion of vitamin B3 production is divided into two projects -- an initial 3-cyanopyridine plant followed by a niacinamide/niacin production facility. The 3-cyanopyridine plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2009. This plant will incorporate the newest, most efficient and environmentally friendly technologies available.
Rich Preziotti, Chief Executive Officer of Vertellus Specialties Inc., stated, "Our production expansion in China is an important step in a global, long-term strategy to meet the increased market demands for vitamin B3. In August 2007, we expanded our US pyridine/picolines production units and, in March 2008, we did the same with our pyridine/picolines production capacity in China. Together, these projects provided a 35% increase in capacity for beta picoline, a key raw material input used to produce 3-cyanopyridine and vitamin B3. In addition, we recently completed a 25% expansion of our US and European capacity for 3-cyanopyridine."
John Craun, President of Vertellus Agriculture & Nutrition Specialties, said, "This expansion of our production capabilities in China, coupled with Vertellus' strong position in the key raw material inputs to vitamin B3, will enable us to increase our participation in the Chinese vitamin B3 market across all major market segments, including animal nutrition, human nutrition, and cosmetics."
"This new 3-cyanopyridine plant is another example of our ongoing commitment to production capacity expansion," said Jeff Meyer, Vertellus' Vitamin B3 Business Director. "We have always been proud of our role as one of the industry's most reliable suppliers and this investment of resources positions us to serve the expanding needs of our customer base going forward."