Clariant has announced the opening of a new crop protection laboratory by its Industrial & Consumer Specialties (ICS) Business Unit in India. The new laboratory, located at Clariant's Kolshet site in Thane, near Mumbai, was inaugurated today by Mr Christian Vang, Head of ICS, Asia Pacific, Clariant.

Development activities at the state of the art facility will focus on building a unique portfolio of crop protection guideline formulations, using Clariant's ranges of emulsifiers, adjuvants, dispersing agents and new innovative chemistries derived from renewable resources. The emphasis will be on eco-friendly, active ingredient delivery systems for emulsions, suspension concentrates (SC), water dispersible granules (WDG), oil dispersions and encapsulated technologies based on Clariant's specialty performance additives.

The new laboratory is an essential cornerstone in the implementation of Clariant's global market approach to provide strong local formulation support to the crop protection industry. Profiling services and support on regulatory guidelines from the global competence centre in Germany will complement the services offered to customers.

"Following the opening of the new Personal Care Laboratory in October 2011 this new Crop Protection Laboratory marks another milestone in our strategy to increase the service we offer to our valued Indian customers." explains Dr Alexander Snell, Head of BU ICS India. "The facility is fully equipped with a spray drier, extruder and spherodizer, as well as a bead mill, a jet mill and a fluidised bed processor. It will assist customers in developing new formulations and bringing products faster to market, in response to rapidly ever-evolving needs."

"Our aim is to be the leading solution provider and preferred innovation partner to the crop protection industry, offering a broad product portfolio including new innovative chemistry based on renewable resources combined with value adding service offerings, to provide our customers with that all-important competitive advantage," says Gregor Keil, Head of Consumer Care Region APAC.

Clariant Crop Protection numbers all the world's leading producers of finished crop protection formulations in its list of customers, as well as many regional suppliers, including manufacturers of generic agrochemicals.