XINGTAI, China & BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) and joint venture partner Risun Group announced the completion and commissioning of their new carbon black manufacturing facility in Xingtai, Hebei Province, China.

Cabot and Risun invested approximately $140 million in the new facility, with Cabot owning a 60 percent equity interest. Cabot and Risun broke ground on the new facility in April 2012. The site’s Phase I manufacturing capacity will be 130,000 metric tons of carbon black per year. As a result, Cabot’s overall carbon black manufacturing capacity in China increases by 25 percent. The addition of Xingtai solidifies Cabot’s position as the world’s leading producer of carbon black. The new plant also employs advanced emissions control and energy efficiency technology to minimize environmental impact and simultaneously reduce energy consumption.

“This new facility is a part of our long-term commitment to the tire industry as we seek to meet our customers’ needs across the globe,” said Patrick Prevost, Cabot president and chief executive officer. “Through the use of state-of-the-art technology in our new Xingtai plant, we will be able to supply high-performance carbon black products to the Chinese and Asia-Pacific markets. Through our investment in process equipment and infrastructure we are also able to increase our energy efficiency and minimize our environmental footprint.”

As we continue to strengthen our global carbon black business, we want to thank the Hebei Provincial Government, the Xingtai Municipal and County Governments, and Risun Group for their support,” continued Prevost.

Cabot continuously seeks to improve product solutions for the tire industry in order to help tire manufacturers meet the ever increasing performance demands for their products. The Xingtai plant will utilize state-of-the-art proprietary technology to produce Cabot’s ultra-reinforcing products VULCAN® 9, VULCAN® 10H and VULCAN® 10HD, that are key materials for producing high-performance tires.

“As global demand for high-performance reinforcing materials continues to grow within the tire industry, our product portfolio and R&D efforts ensure that we can provide our customers with the right products, in the right place, at the right time,” said Dave Miller, president, Reinforcement Materials Segment. “We are continually working to stay ahead of market demands, and the new Xingtai plant will enable us to deliver our most highly reinforcing carbon black products while strengthening our position in China.”

“We are very proud of this new modern facility and our continued relationship with Cabot,” said Yang Xuegang, chairman and president of Risun Group. “Our new manufacturing site will be a welcome addition to our local economy, as it will create new job opportunities for local workers, introduce new technology, establish a new sustainable business model, and bring a sophisticated management system. This joint venture will become a role model when China is entering a new phase of development and we look forward to working with Cabot to help make this facility a great success.”

The participating entities in this new site are Cabot (China) Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cabot Corporation and Risun Chemical Company, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Risun Coal Chemicals Group, Ltd.

ABOUT CABOT CORPORATION

Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) is a global specialty chemicals and performance materials company, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The company is a leading provider of rubber and specialty carbons, activated carbon, inkjet colorants, cesium formate drilling fluids, fumed silica, aerogel, and elastomer composites. For more information on Cabot, please visit the company’s website at: http://www.cabotcorp.com.

ABOUT RISUN GROUP

Risun Group, founded in 1995, has become a substantial coal chemical group company through 18 years of development, with diversified businesses covering metallurgical coke, chemicals, research and development, trade, etc. Risun is currently the largest metallurgical coke and chemicals supplier in the world, running four production bases in Xingtai, Dingzhou, Tangshan, and Cangzhou (all in Hebei Province, China).

In 2012, Risun sold 8.2669 million tons of metallurgical coke, produced and sold 1.721 million tons of chemicals. In total Risun is producing five categories of more than 50 different chemical products, and among them, there are 620,300 tons of methanol from coke oven gas, 484,100 tons of coal tar processing products, 430,900 tons of crude benzol hydro-refining, and 185,700 tons of DME. Risun achieved revenue of RMB 24 billion in 2012.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in the press release regarding Cabot’s business that are not historical facts are forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward looking statements, see “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K.