New lactide plant for Purac

CSM and its subsidiary Purac have announced the official start of construction for its new lactide plant in Thailand, that will produce monomers for bioplastics. The investment is driven by CSM's commitment to play a leading role in the development of the market for PLA based bioplastics. This market is highly attractive as PLA contributes to a significantly lower carbon dioxide footprint than the traditional plastics. The investment for this new 75,000-ton lactide plant will be 45 million euro and the facility will be ready for start up in the second half of 2011.