Dow Chemical Co. is strengthening its urethane production chain in Thailand. The company will build a new polyol plant in Rayong Province to supply the material for rigid polyurethane foam. The plant is slated for completion in June 2018 and will meet the demand for home appliances in China and elsewhere in Asia. Dow has...
Industry
Sumitomo Chemical Eyes Indonesia for New Polypropylene Compound Factory
Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd. (TYO:4005) is looking to expand its overseas bases for polypropylene (PP) compounds used in automotive parts and other applications. With its new plant in India coming online last September, the company is now considering the construction of a facilities in Indonesia. Demand for the material has been favorable, as more automakers...
Sumitomo Bakelite Considering Investment in US Medical Equipment Ventures
Sumitomo Bakelite Co. Ltd. (TYO:4203) is actively considering investments in advanced medical equipment ventures based in the U.S., and has dispatched expert representatives to Silicon Valley to search for promising ventures. Over a three-year period ending in fiscal 2018, the company is aiming to invest 35 billion to 40 billion yen ($320.53 million – $366.32...
Kuraray to Increase US Production of Poval Water-Soluble PVA Film
Kuraray Co. Ltd. (TYO:3405) is gearing up to bolster U.S. production of its Poval water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film. The Japanese chemical manufacturer has earmarked roughly 4 billion yen ($36.63 million) to expand an existing plant in Indiana, with plans to bring new operations online in the first half of 2018. The company made its...
JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy to Produce Carbon Material for LiB Negative Electrodes
JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. has established a domestic facility to produce carbon material for lithium-ion secondary battery (LiB) negative electrodes. The company has succeeded in developing a coke series of graphite material with superior, low-temperature properties that has been adopted for use in automotive LiBs in China. The new facility will be located...
Kaneka to Expand Mobility Business With Focus on Epoxy Masterbatches
Kaneka Corp. (TYO:4118) plans to expand its footprint in the business field of mobility, encompassing aviation and aerospace. Specifically, the company will focus on thermosetting epoxy resin masterbatches, which increase the toughness of carbon-fiber composites. Following on from its decision to acquire Applied Poleramic Inc., a U.S. company engaged in formulated resins used in composites,...
ZF to Bolster Shanghai R&D Facility, Extend Tongji University Tie-Up
German automotive parts manufacturer ZF Friedrichshafen AG has announced plans to enhance its R&D facility in China. ZF will first undertake phased investment in its existing R&D center in Shanghai through to 2020. The firm aims to increase the workforce to 1,000 employees and install test facilities to meet automotive electrification needs, namely those for...
Boosted by Bulk Chemicals, Major Chemical Companies Increase Profits for April–June Quarter
With the performance of Japan’s major chemical companies coming out for April–June, all have proven to secure operating profit for the period. Market conditions have improved even for the likes of methyl methacrylate (MMA), urethane raw materials, caprolactam and acrylonitrile (AN), which have been sluggish as recently as 1–2 years ago with risks of low...
Showa Denko to Provide Hydrogen Fuel Derived From Waste Plastic
Showa Denko KK (TYO:4004) announced on August 1 that it will provide low-carbon hydrogen to power fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). Tomoe Shokai Co. Ltd., a major supplier of industrial gas, began providing the fuel in July at the newly established Shinsuna Hydrogen Station it operates in Koto-ku Ward, Tokyo. It is the first fuel station...
China Aims to Grow Solid-State Lighting Into $150B Market by 2020
China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and 12 other organizations recently completed a new road map for semiconductor illumination, which covers technology such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs). It comes as part of the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan, which runs from 2016 to 2020 and seeks to increase industrial concentration, innovation and luminance efficiency –...
Toray to Build New LiB Separator Factory in Europe
Toray Industries Inc. (TYO:3402) plans to triple its current production capacity of separator membranes for secondary lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) to about 2 billion square meters, building a new factory in Europe by 2020. The production expansion comes in anticipation of rapidly intensifying electric vehicle (EV) demand, and is expected to require an investment of 120...
Polyplastics Eyes 25% Increase in Polyoxymethylene Production Capacity
Polyplastics Co. Ltd. is considering an increase to its production capacity of polyoxymethylene (POM). The company is looking at an increase of 90,000 tons in annual production, the same amount by which Polyplastics increased production at its Malaysian plant in 2013. This would boost the company’s capacity to a total of 400,000 tons. While Polyplastics...
Japan’s Ethylene Sector Records Second Best Year to Date in Ordinary Profit
Fiscal 2016 was a good year for Japanese ethylene. According to data compiled by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s (METI) Material Industries Division, the ethylene businesses of 10 companies combined to increase by 23.3 percent in year-on-year total ordinary profit to 230.2 billion yen ($2.09 billion). The increase marks the second best result...
Philippines’ JGSPC to Boost Polyethylene Production by 70%
JG Summit Petrochemical Corp. (JGSPC) will strengthen its polyolefin production facilities, coming in conjunction with the company’s plans to expand its naphtha cracker plant by 2020. The major Philippine petrochemical company plans to increase its annual production capacity for polyethylene (PE) by 70 percent, up to 550,000 tons, and raise its polypropylene (PP) production capacity...
Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings to Launch US Base for Collaborating with Startups
Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. (TYO:4188) is planning to establish a base in the U.S. during fiscal 2017 for creating new business. The company is looking to set the base up in Silicon Valley, a hub of cutting-edge technologies and new business ideas. This new base will focus on collaborating with startups and conducting M&A. Mitsubishi...
Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical to Double Acrylonitrile Capacity to 520,000 Tons
Shenghong Holding Group subsidiary Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical Co. Ltd. has begun formulating the second phase of its petrification base. Although the company will now be scooting over to raw material procurement and product configuration, it has decided to construct an additional 260,000-ton facility for acrylonitrile (AN). The plan is to get this launched by as...
Wanda Petrochemical Group Invests 10B Yuan to Enter Ethylene Market
Wanda Petrochemical Group, an entity within the China Wanda Group, will begin ethylene production as part of a 10 billion yuan ($1.48 billion) investment. A subsidiary in the group will construct a naphtha cracker in the Dongying Economic Development Zone in Dongying, China. The initiative’s production capacity for ethylene and derivative products is expected to...
Asahi Kasei to Upgrade S-SBR Plant in Singapore
Asahi Kasei Corp. (TYO:3407) has formally decided to increase production capacity at its solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR) plant in Singapore. Approximately 5 billion yen ($44.78 million) are expected to be invested in the upgrade, which will boost annual production capacity from the current 100,000 tons to 130,000 tons by January 2019, when the new facilities...
Denka to Make 70 Billion Yen Strategic Investment Over Five Years
Denka Co. Ltd. (TYO:4061) has revealed that its next five-year business plan, beginning with the business year through March 2019, will include 70 billion yen ($630 million) for mergers, acquisitions and other strategic investments. The investments are to be made upon completion of the current 50 billion yen strategic investment budget for the four-year period...
China Sees Flurry of New CPL Facilities Come Online
A series of new caprolactam (CPL) facilities have been popping up in China. Shanxi Lubao Coking Group Co. Ltd. this year has brought online a new facility with a total annual capacity of 100,000 tons in the company’s home province of Shanxi. The production is characterized by a process of obtaining benzene from coal, which...
