Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. (AGC; Tokyo; www.agc.com) has decided to further increase the production capacity of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) at P.T. Asahimas Chemical (ASC), one of its consolidated subsidiaries in Indonesia. ASC has recently completed a facility enhancement, which includes the capacity increase of VCM production to 800,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) from 400,000 m.t./yr, and the new production facilities started operations in the first quarter of 2016. As an additional capacity-enhancement measure, ASC will increase its VCM production capacity to 900,000 m.t./yr in 2018 through the debottlenecking of existing facilities.
VCM is used mainly as a raw material for the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The PVC market in Southeast Asia continues to demonstrate an annual growth rate of around 5%, and remains favorable, particularly in businesses related to infrastructure development.