Japan's Sumitomo to raise global PP capacity

03 April 2008 11:36  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical plans to increase polypropylene (PP) compounds production by establishing manufacturing facilities in Thailand and Saudi Arabia and expanding capacity at its existing plant in China, a company spokesman said on Thursday.

A joint venture with Japanese firm Toyo Ink would allow the chemical major to take advantage of increasing worldwide demand for the product; the spokesman added, without disclosing investment costs.

The two firms would set up a 55:45 joint venture Sumika Polymer Compounds Thailand to build an 11,000 tonne/year PP compounding facility, which was expected to begin commercial production by mid-2009, the spokesman said.

This would help them exploit the growing automobile market in Thailand, he added.

They also planned to establish another 10,000 tonne/year plant in Saudi Arabia, which was scheduled to start commercial production in March 2010, the spokesman said.

The facility, to be built at Rabigh Conversion Industrial Park, would use PP feedstock from the new PetroRabigh petrochemical complex the spokesman said.

In China, the companies planned to increase PP compound capacity at their existing joint venture Zhuhai Sumika Polymer Compounds in Guangdong province by 11,000 tonnes/year to 22,000 tonnes/year by the end of this year, Sumitomo said.

This capacity expansion would help them meet the expected increase in demand for the product, especially from Japanese automobile manufacturers with plants in south China, it added.

For more on PP visit ICIS chemical intelligence

By: Tomomi Yokomura
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