Idemitsu Kosan plans to expand Asia PC business

17 April 2008 13:10  [Source: ICIS news]

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--Idemitsu Kosan is exploring opportunities for investing in new polycarbonate (PC) capacities in Asia to capture a bigger share of the regional market, a company source said on Thursday.

New PC capacities which came on stream last year and those due to start up this year in and outside Asia were expected to intensify competition in the market, particularly in Asia where annual demand growth was estimated to be stable at around 7% per year in the five years to 2012, the source added.

However, the producer might still be able to justify new PC capacity investments amid the stiff competition, by leveraging on its feedstock advantage, he said.

Idemistu Kosan’s operations are integrated from upstream oil exploration and refineries to downstream petrochemical production.

"The inefficient PC plants could be forced to shut down as a result of competition from more cost competitive producers," he said.

The producer aimed to raise its PC exports to China to 12,000 tonnes this year, from less than 10,000 tonnes in 2007, with the increased supply coming from its newly expanded joint venture plant, Formosa Idemitsu Petrochemical (FIP), the source said. 

FIP, a joint venture between Formosa Chemical & Fibre Corp (FCFC) and Idemitsu, started up its No 3 line with a 75,000 tonne/year capacity in Mailiao, Taiwan at the end of last year, bringing its total annual capacity to 200,000 tonnes.

Idemitsu Kosan operates a 50,000 tonne/year PC plant in Japan.

ICIS Copyright © Reed Business Information 2009

Author: Chow Bee Lin
+65 6780 4359

< previous article(ICIS Chemical Business podcast November 2, 2009)

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.