Japan’s Asahi Kasei builds new plastic compounds plant in China

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Asahi Kasei is building a new 28,000 tonne/year plastic compounds plant in Changshu, China, which is aimed at serving the growing domestic automobile market, the Japanese producer said on Wednesday.

The new plant is scheduled to start up in early 2020 and will be fully owned by Asahi Kasei, the company said in a statement.

Investment costs of the project were not disclosed.

“Automobile production in China reached a record high in 2016, and is projected to continue to rise substantially,” the company said.

“As plastic compounds enable vehicle weight to be reduced by substituting for metal parts, further impetus for demand growth is driven by heightening environmental awareness and tightening environmental regulations,” it added.

Asahi Kasei currently has plastic compounds manufacturing and sales facilities in Japan, China, Thailand, Singapore, the US, Mexico, and Germany.