London, 11.29.2007 Johnson Matthey today announced that it will build a emission control catalyst plant in Macedonia to serve its rapidly growing demand for its products in Europe and North America.

The plant is a state of the art manufacturing facility that is to be constructed in the Bunardjick Technological and Industrial Development Zone, 15 kilometres from the Macedonian capital, Skopje. The new plant will be built to a modular design and the initial phase will incorporate highly automated production lines for both light duty diesel autocatalysts and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts for heavy duty diesel vehicles.

SCR utilises catalysts to reduce emissions of oxides of nitrogen, commonly referred to as NOx, from diesel vehicle exhaust. These systems also require a urea additive that is injected into the exhaust stream ahead of the SCR catalysts. SCR systems are extensively used on heavy duty diesel vehicles in Europe to meet the current Euro IV heavy duty diesel emissions standards that came into force in the European Union in October 2006 and demand is forecast to grow strongly over the next few years.

The initial investment in the Macedonian plant will be approximately £34 million (€48 million) and it will have capacity to produce 4 million catalysts per year. In addition, Johnson Matthey will build a plant in USA.
Both facilities are expected to commence operation by the end of 2009.

Commenting on this major investment Neil Carson, Chief Executive of Johnson Matthey, said: “I am delighted to announce these important additions to our global manufacturing infrastructure. Our long term commitment to R&D and to developing a full range of products for both heavy and light duty diesel emission control has placed us in a strong position in this rapidly growing market. Our new plants in Macedonia and in the USA will provide additional, state of the art manufacturing capacity to serve our customers in Europe and North America.”

Source www.matthey.com