Orion S.A. celebrates opening of its second plant in China

Orion S.A. (NYSE: OEC), a specialty chemicals company, has celebrated the
completion of its first greenfield project – a carbon black plant in eastern
China that will supply fast-growing demand in Asia.

The facility in the city of Huaibei in Anhui province will produce carbon
black for a variety of applications, including coatings, printing inks,
rubber, polymers, fiber and rubber. The site’s two production lines have a
total capacity of 70 kilotons per year.

“The Huaibei facility is a huge milestone for Orion. The state-of-the-art
plant enables us to better support our Chinese customers with products that
are made in China,” Orion CEO Corning Painter said at the Nov. 17 opening
ceremony. “Now we can reallocate production lines in the U.S. and Europe so
that we can increase supply to customers in those markets.”

Orion’s other plant in China is in Qingdao in the eastern province of
Shandong. The facility, built in 1994, produces carbon black grades for
tires, mechanical rubber goods and specialty applications.

Painter commended everyone on the Huaibei project team for overcoming the
extreme challenges posed by the Covid-19 virus.

“Despite the constant disruption during the worst periods of the pandemic,
our employees, contractors and leadership team kept the project on track,”
the CEO said. “As always, we put the safety, health and the welfare of our
people first, providing nutritious meals, warm beds, testing and medical
care. But still, it was the heroic dedication of our team that delivered
this project under extremely trying circumstances.”

About Orion S.A.
Orion S.A. (NYSE: OEC) is a leading global supplier of carbon black, a solid
form of carbon produced as powder or pellets. The material is made to
customers’ exacting specifications for tires, coatings, ink, batteries,
plastics and numerous other specialty, high-performance applications. Carbon
black is used to tint, colorize, provide reinforcement, conduct electricity,
increase durability and add UV protection. Orion has four innovation centers
and produces carbon black at 15 plants worldwide, offering the most diverse
variety of production processes in the industry. The company’s corporate
lineage goes back more than 160 years to Germany, where it operates the
world’s longest-running carbon black plant. Orion is a leading innovator,
applying a deep understanding of customers’ needs to deliver sustainable
solutions. For more information, please visit orioncarbons.com.