Producer
Birla Carbon
World's largest carbon black producer by volume (~11-12% global share, 2.13 Mt/yr capacity). 19 plants in 14 countries. Part of Aditya Birla Group -- the same conglomerate that owns Novelis (world's largest aluminum flat-rolled producer) and Hindalco. This means a single Indian family-controlled conglomerate controls the world's largest aluminum sheet rolling company AND the world's largest carbon black producer -- two critical tire manufacturing inputs.
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Inputs supplied
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Goods downstream
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Facilities
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Stories
What they make
1 input Birla Carbon supplies
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Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something Birla Carbon makes, pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
2 facilities
Birla Carbon -- Gummidipoondi, Tamil Nadu, India →
INGummidipoondi, Tiruvallur District, Tamil Nadu, India · chemical_plant
One of Birla Carbon's major Indian facilities; Tamil Nadu coastal industrial zone with port access for petroleum CBFS import and product export. Supplies Indian tire OEMs (MRF, Apollo, CEAT, JK Tyres) and exports. Birla has 19 global plants including India, US, Brazil, Europe, Asia.
Birla Carbon -- Ulysses, Kansas, USA →
USUlysses, Grant County, Kansas, USA · chemical_plant
Birla Carbon US plant; one of two US facilities (Ulysses KS + Centerville LA). Supplies North American tire industry. Ulysses located in southwest Kansas petroleum-producing region with natural gas pipeline access for energy and crude oil-based CBFS.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Tire-Grade Carbon Black
68%Specialty Carbon Black
18%Ink & Toner Carbon Black
8%Industrial Rubber & Non-Tire
6%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2024
Birla Carbon (world's largest carbon black producer) and Novelis (world's largest aluminum flat-rolled producer) are both subsidiaries of India's Aditya Birla Group -- the same family-controlled conglomerate. This means a single Indian industrial group controls the world's largest supplier of two distinct critical tire manufacturing inputs: the carbon black reinforcing filler (25-30% of tire weight) and the aluminum wheel rim material (for aluminum wheels). The Aditya Birla Group sits at the intersection of multiple automotive supply chains in a way that almost no supply chain analysis acknowledges.
Aditya Birla Group ↗Origin2022
Birla Carbon, part of the Aditya Birla Group (Indian multinational controlled by the Kumar Mangalam Birla family), became the world's largest carbon black manufacturer through a 2011 acquisition of Columbian Chemicals Company from private equity — a deal that combined Birla's Asian operations with one of North America's oldest carbon black producers (Columbian Chemicals was founded in 1892). Carbon black is produced by the furnace process: heavy aromatic petroleum oil (feedstock, also called carbon black oil or CBFS — coal tar oil from steel coking) is partially combusted in oxygen-deficient conditions, creating nanoscale carbon particles. The feedstock chemistry is critical and poorly understood outside the industry: carbon black oil is a byproduct of both petroleum refining (aromatic extracts from FCC units) and steel coking (coal tar fractionation), meaning carbon black production economics are co-dependent on both refining margins and steel production rates. When European steel mills cut production (reducing coal tar supply) simultaneously with oil price shocks, carbon black producers face feedstock cost squeezes from two unrelated industrial disruptions. Birla Carbon's 16 facilities across 12 countries represent approximately 20% of global carbon black capacity, making it the single largest influence on global carbon black supply and pricing.
Birla Carbon ↗