Japanese Chemical Company Accelerates Asian Polyacetal Resin Expansion

The sustained and rapid growth of the Asian economy is driving the demand for polyoxymethylene in the automotive and electronics industries. In order to meet market demand, Japanese chemical companies are accelerating the pace of expansion of polyacetal resin production in Asia. According to estimates by Japan's Polyplastics, the global poly formaldehyde market demand this year will reach 900,000 tons, of which more than half will be in Asia. The market demand for polyformaldehyde in Asia is growing at an average rate of 4% to 8% per year.

Japan's Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co., Ltd. said on June 3 that by 2013 it will increase its polyoxymethylene production capacity in Thailand from the current 55,000 tons/year to 100,000 tons/year, and put 55,000 tons of polyformaldehyde in Thailand. The annual production capacity of polyoxymethylene plants will be increased to 60,000 tons/year, and a new set of 40,000 tons/year will also be built. It is planned to put into commercial operation in the second quarter of 2013. The company's current polyoxymethylene plant in Thailand is operated by Polyactal, which owns 70% of the shares. Mitsubishi Gas Chemicals also stated that due to the limited expansion of Thai projects, it is also considering building new projects in other countries, and considering the availability of raw materials and proximity to the market, they tend to choose to build a new plant in Brunei. Mitsubishi Gas Chemicals currently has a total capacity of 225,000 tons per year of polyoxymethylene formaldehyde and is distributed in Japan, Thailand, South Korea and China.

Polyplastics Co., Ltd. announced on July 12 that it will build a new large polyoxymethylene engineering plastics plant at its plant in Kuantan, Malaysia. The 90,000-ton/year facility will be operated by Polyplastics' Asia Pacific (KL) subsidiary and is expected to be completed and put into operation in early 2014. The company's POM production capacity in Kuantan will be from the current 30,000 tons. It will expand to 120,000 tons/year, and its global production capacity will reach 290,000 tons/year, accounting for about 1/3 of the global demand for polyformaldehyde engineering plastics. The device will use patented polymerization technology based on methanol. Polyplastics currently has four polyoxymethylene units, which are located in Fuji in Japan, Kaohsiung in Taiwan, China, Nantong in China, and Kuantan in Malaysia. Baoli Plastics Co., Ltd. is a joint venture company, in which Japan Daicel Chemical Co., Ltd. holds a 55% stake, and the United States Ticona Co., Ltd. holds a 45% stake.