Nair in conversation with Sheikh Khaled at the plant

Visen Polymers will embellish Sharjah’s industrial profile as an exporter to the region’s markets

A new plant that opened recently at Hamriyah Free Zone (HFZ) for manufacturing polymer emulsions for paints and coatings will supply major paint majors in the region.

Visen Polymers FZE has annual capacity of 120,000 tonnes and is the largest facility of its kind in the Middle East, said Vijay S Nair, managing director of the parent company, Visen Industries Ltd, a producer of polymer emulsions  for paints and coatings, textiles and adhesives in India.

“Our plant in HFZ is our first in the Middle East and we seek to meet increasing demand of this growing market by taking advantage of the facilities provided by the HFZ Authority,” said Nair at the opening ceremony.

 The $51 million (Dh187 million) facility has a total land area of about 78,000 sq m. DCS controlled systems with the latest manufacturing techniques have been installed to produce world-class quality products consistently, a company statement said. An R&D centre has been built on the premises to work on the development of new grades.

Nair emphasised that the plant has been equipped with an ETP facility and effluents will be treated and used in the manufacturing process. Adequate storage facilities to store monomer and finished products have been built.

Officials and guests at the plant opening

Officials and guests at the plant opening

“Visen’s HFZ facility has adequate land available for expanding our capacity to 300,000 tonnes which we plan to accomplish in the next three years,” said Nair.

The new plant will supply paint majors such as Jotun Paints, Hempel, Berger, Al Gurg, Akzo Nobel and Crown Paints in the region, the company said.

Visen Polymers FZE is a wholly owned subsidiary of Visen Industries Ltd, Mumbai, India, which was founded in 1985.  The parent company had a modest beginning with an annual production of 500 tonnes of polymer emulsions and now has four fully-fledged manufacturing units with total production capacity of 120,000 tonnes. The company is setting up a plant in Chennai, South India, with capacity of 60,000 tonnes.

The Hamriyah plant was opened by Sheikh Khaled Bin Abdullah Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, who is chair of three entities – Department of Seaport and Customs, HMZ Authority and Sharjah Airport International Free (Saif) Zone.

“We’re proud to welcome one of the market leaders in India into our family and we wish them all success in the future,” remarked Saud Salem Al Mazrouie, director of HFZ Authority and Saif Zone. Present at the opening was Mohammed Meer Al Sarrah, director of Sharjah’s seaports and customs.