Himadri Chemical starts world’s largest speciality carbon black line

Kolkata: With the start of commercial production at a newly installed 70,000-tonnes-per-annum speciality carbon black line, Himadri Speciality Chemical has turned its West Bengal facility into reportedly the largest single-location speciality carbon black manufacturing site in the world.

The expansion lifts the company’s overall carbon black capacity to 2.50 lakh tonnes per annum, of which 1.30 lakh tonnes is now dedicated to speciality grades. The project is a brownfield addition at the existing plant.

The scale is significant not merely in numbers but also in positioning. Speciality carbon black is a value-added material used in plastics, inks, paints, coatings and other performance-focused applications where uniformity and customised properties are critical.

Anurag Choudhary, chairman, managing director and CEO of the company, reportedly described the commissioning as the next phase in Himadri’s growth in advanced carbon materials. He said the enhanced capacity would allow the company to respond to rising global demand for application-specific and premium carbon solutions.

The company expects the new line to strengthen revenue growth and improve margins over the medium term. Industry observers note that higher speciality capacity typically offers better pricing realisation compared to conventional grades. As the worldwide demand shifts towards customised, high-performance materials, the Hooghly expansion signals Bengal’s emergence as a serious player in advanced carbon manufacturing.