Dow Corning plans $1 billion Mideast plant

MANAMA (Reuters) - U.S.-based Dow Corning plans to build a new silicone manufacturing plant in the Middle East, its fourth worldwide, with a value that will exceed $1 billion, an executive told Reuters on Monday.

Dow Corning is one of the largest silicone manufacturers in the world, with plants in the United States, Britain and China.

"For the longest time the Middle East has been only focused on the oil and gas sectors and we find this is an opportunity for us to open a plan in this region," said Jean-Paul Mollie, Middle East, South Asia & Africa regional president at Dow Corning, speaking on the sidelines of the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit.

He said the new plant was part of a long-term plan, but declined to name the plant's location or the time frame of the project.

The company opened its first Middle East headquarters office in Bahrain this week, said Mollie. "Bahrain is a gateway for us in the Middle East market and this will be followed in our bigger plan of having the manufacturing plant in the region."

Silicone is used in a wide range of industries including textiles, real estate construction, makeup products and the auto industry, said Mollie.

"It's in everything and I don't think people realize that around two kilograms of silicone is used in a single car in the form of rubber and paints."

Mollie said the business had been buffered from the impact of the economic crisis by the fact that silicone is used in a wide range of industries. Mollie expects the financial results for the group to be similar to 2008.

In 2008 Dow Corning recorded $5.45 billion in sales, with the sales mainly in the United States, Western Europe and Japan. "The main markets we want to increase our focus on over the coming year will be Eastern Europe and the Middle East because we see both regions growing," he said.

(Reporting by Amena Bakr; editing by Thomas Atkins and Rupert Winchester)