Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan; www.mitsuichem.com) and Prime Polymer Co., Ltd., a joint venture (JV) in which Mitsui Chemicals holds 65% and Idemitsu Kosan 35%, announced that production augmentation has been completed and started up to strengthen the group’s position in growth markets, at three of its global polypropylene (PP) compound hubs – United States, Mexico, and India – in response to growing demand for automotive use polypropylene. In May, the company started up one new production line in India, followed by two new lines in the U.S. and one new line in Mexico, in June and July, respectively. Furthermore, capacity expansions in Europe raised production by 5,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr).
Together, the expansions raise the global production capacity by 50,000 m.t./yr to 1.05 million m.t./yr.
The group currently has 8 global production sites (Japan, USA, Mexico, Europe, Thailand, China, India, and Brazil) and R&D facilities in 5 areas (Japan, USA, Europe, Thailand, and China) for automotive use polypropylene (PP) and has continued to enhance its production system for premium-quality products.