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Chemicals

Unique Combination of Competitively Priced Feedstocks and Skilled Labour

The Mosaic Company, one of the world's largest producers of potash, has three potash operations with ongoing expansion plans in Saskatchewan.

“There’s going to be greater demand for food. The food supply is going to have to come from a limited land base and that has to come with more fertilizer use. Saskatchewan is right at the centre of that (as) one of the world’s largest producers of potash.”
Jim Prokopanko, President and CEO, The Mosaic Company

The world’s top chemical companies locate in Canada— Canada is where global leaders find their perfect formula for profitability. Most of the world’s top chemical companies including BASF, Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil, Shell Chemicals, INEOS, Sabic, and DuPont have production facilities in Canada. Canada’s dynamic business environment with low tax rates and highly skilled workforce provides great rewards to savvy investors in the chemicals sector.

Readily available source of competitively priced feedstock— Canada’s chemicals manufacturing sector recorded sales of $43.9 billion in 2010. Substantial reserves of natural gas provide a readily available source of competitively priced feedstock and allow for low-cost production of ethylene and its derivatives. Large and efficient extracting plants, modern ethylene crackers, and derivative plants that are among the largest in the world allow Canada to achieve important economies of scale in chemicals manufacturing.

Source: Statistics Canada.

Competitive chemical clusters— Canada’s chemicals industry is concentrated in three regions of the country – Ontario, Québec and Alberta. These hubs are supported by a strong research infrastructure that nurtures innovation and the world’s best-educated population. Central Canada is the largest chemicals cluster in the country and a leading petroleum-refining region in North America. Western Canada is the site of the largest petrochemical manufacturing industry in the country.

All of these hubs offer global investors competitive costs. In an independent 2010 survey of 100 cities in 10 countries conducted by KPMG, Canada recorded the lowest cost of doing business among established industrialized countries in the chemicals sector.

Source: KPMG. Competitive Alternatives 2010.

Recent Foreign Investments – Chemicals

Map of Canada showing four locations: Saskatchewan; Montréal, Quebec; Kingston, Ontario; and Shippagan, New Brunswick

American fertilizer giant Mosaic Co. is investing $3.15 billion to expand its potash production in Saskatchewan by 5 million tonnes over the next 12 years. By 2020, the company will boost annual production of its three Saskatchewan sites by 50 percent to 15.5 million tonnes.
In July 2010, Germany’s Sud-Chemie AG invested more than $75 million in a facility in suburban Montréal that will produce lithium iron phosphate—a key ingredient in rechargeable batteries. The company’s Canadian subsidiary, Phostech Lithium Inc., expects to begin commercial production in 2012.
In January 2011, Invista, one of the world’s largest producers of polymers and fibres, began to significantly increase production at its advanced-development facility in Kingston, Ontario. The plant manufactures nylon airbags and industrial yarn, primarily for the automotive industry.
In November 2009, Jiffy Products Ltd. doubled both total sales and staff at its facility in Shippagan, New Brunswick to accommodate demand for a new biodegradable shrink wrap developed at the plant.