Chinese company to invest 2 bln rubles in carbon black production in Astrakhan Special Economic Zone

ASTRAKHAN. Oct 4 (Interfax) - The expert board of the Lotos Special Economic Zone has approved the carbon black production project of LLC Golden Industries Group (GIG, based in Astrakhan, and co-owned by China's Tianjin Honghai), the zone's press service said in a statement.

"The project value exceeds 2 billion rubles. [...] GIG, a company registered in the Narimanovsky district of the Astrakhan region will be manufacturing carbon black, ultra-pure specialized soot, from natural gas," the statement said.

The first stage of the project will be the launch of a production facility with a rated annual capacity of 10,000 tonnes of carbon black. The next stages envisage additional investments to scale up carbon black production to 30,000 tonnes per year and to begin the production of melamine and urea.

One hundred and twenty jobs will be created at the first stage, and the staff will later grow to 400.

According to the special economic zone's press service, the Chinese shareholder of the resident company is highly experienced in the establishment of high-tech, green production sites based on the integration of the gas and chemical industries. Technologies of the China Carbon Black Institute will be used in the manufacturing process.

Products will be supplied to enterprises in the tire, polymer, leather and construction industries and manufacturers of consumer goods, printing inks and toners, the press service said.

Golden Industries Group LLC was established in December 2021 with a charter capital of 10 million rubles and the core activity defined as "production of other basic inorganic chemicals." According to the Unified Register of Legal Entities, as of October 4, Tianjin Honghai has a 97.5% stake in the limited liability company, while 2% is owned by Armor Group LLC, and 0.5% by the company's general director Altynkanat Dzhan Serik.

The Lotos special economic zone was founded in the Narimanovsky district of the Astrakhan region by a Russian government resolution to create a large-scale shipbuilding cluster, develop high-tech industries, and manufacture new types of products and services with high added value.

Currently, the Lotos special economic zone has 19 resident companies with an overall investment exceeding 40 billion rubles. This includes companies with investments from Iran, China and other countries.