Cariflex building ‘world’s largest polyisoprene latex plant’

Jurong Island, Singapore – Cariflex Pte. Ltd has launched construction of the world’s largest and Singapore’s first polyisoprene latex plant at a 6.1 hectares site in Jurong Island, the company said 28 July

The investment of over $350 million represents the Korean-owned company’s largest ever capacity expansion and is intended to meet global demand for medical and consumer products.

The project, which will be delivered in two phases, is expected to increase Cariflex’s global polyisoprene latex production capacity by over 50%. 

Expected to be operational by the second half of 2024, the new operation will create at least 70 permanent jobs for the first phase of the project, said the company. 

Cariflex’s polyisoprene rubber latex is a synthetic, water-based polymer latex, suitable for a wide range of applications, with surgical gloves and condoms representing the key end markets.

The new plant is to “play a vital role in Cariflex’s [capabilility] to serve customers in southeast Asia, where the world’s key manufacturing plants of surgical gloves and condoms are located.”

Over the past two decades, Cariflex said it has steadily expanded capacity at its existing manufacturing locations in Brazil and Japan to meet the growing market demand. 

The latest major expansion was completed in 2021: doubling its polyisoprene latex capacity at the Paulinia Facility, Brazil, with an investment of $50 million.

“We are strategically locating our new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility here in Singapore, at the doorstep of our key customers,” said Prakash Kolluri, CEO of Cariflex.

“Additionally," he said, "the Jurong Island ecosystem, with all of the existing infrastructure and services… gave us confidence in our investment decision in Singapore.”

Korean petrochemical and engineering & construction company Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd acquired the Cariflex business from Kraton Corp. in 2020, in a deal worth €475 million.