Polyplastics Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Toshio Shiwaku, hereinafter “Polyplastics”) established a new polyacetal (hereinafter “POM”) manufacturing company in Nantong, Jingji Dev Zone, China to increase the production capacity of POM in China (announced in January 2022).

We agreed to the capital participation from Global Polyacetal Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Naoto Obayashi, hereinafter “GPAC”) , a wholly owned subsidiary of “Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc.” for 30% of the total investment in this new company.

Under the long-standing relationship of trust between GPAC and Polyplastics, the Polyplastics Group will be in charge of production and operation, and by utilizing the technology and experience accumulated over many years, we will realize the world’s highest quality POM production based on the process of safety and energy saving with  the production capacity of 150,000 tons / year, which is the largest scale in the world as a single POM plant. By utilizing our energy-saving process, we will also realize the supply of environmentally friendly and cost-competitive POM.

The construction plan has already been announced, and the operation of 90,000 tons / year will start in November 2024 (Phase 1), and by the beginning of 2026, it will be 150,000 tons / year (Phase 2). We will produce under the brands of both Polyplastics and GPAC and supply products to each.

As a top supplier of POM mainly in Asia, the Polyplastics Group has contributed to the development of markets such as the automobile and electrical industries. As a result of starting sales to Europe and the United States since 2012 and continuing to expand the market, the supply capacity of the Kuantan plant in Malaysia (90,000 tons / year), which started operation in 2014, is also running short. Against this background, we have decided to establish a new manufacturing base in China, where demand is particularly high in Asia and is growing rapidly, and we will mainly cover our own domestic demand in China with this new plant. It will be possible to use the surplus capacity generated at the Kuantan plant to develop markets such as Europe, the United States and India, and further optimize the supply system including the supply chain.

The Polyplastics Group has been developing the market through TSC (Technical Solution Center) all over the world as a technical support system for customer’s development. We will continue to utilize this sales and technical support system to further strengthen the system for providing the increased supply capacity to the world.

As our environmental measures, we have already obtained ISCC PLUS certification at the Kuantan plant and have realized the production of POM by sustainable MeOH, and it enabled us to widely develop similar technology for future environmental measures.

* POM is widely used in automobile parts, electrical / OA parts, general consumer goods, and in recent years medical supplies due to its mechanical properties (strength / elasticity), friction performance, and chemical resistance, and demand is steadily growing up every year.

Contact
Polyplastics Co., Ltd. General Administration Department CSR Group Abe
TEL +81-3-6711-8614