Tosoh to build new China PVC unit, Japan VCM plant

Tosoh to build new China PVC unit, Japan VCM plant

Japan's Tosoh Corp formally announced on Tuesday that it will invest Yen4bn ($ 36.9m/Euro31.1m) in a new 200 000 tonne/year polyvinyl chloride (PVC) joint venture in Guangzhou, Guandong province, China.

The company said it is also planning to boost its vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) capacity in Japan with a new 200 000 tonne/year plant proposed for Yamaguchi prefecture, while the addition of another 200 000 tonne/year of capacity at the same site is under consideration.

Tosoh plans to raise its domestic VCM capacity to 1.4m tonne/year by 2005 and 1.7m tonne/year by 2006. The company has a current VCM capacity of 1.07m tonne/year. If the expansions proceed, Tosoh would become the largest VCM producer in Asia.

The planned new VCM facility in Japan would supply both the company's new PVC plant in China and export feedstock to its planned PVC expansion in the Philippines. Tosoh's new Chinese VCM joint venture has been tentatively named Tosoh (Guangzhou) Chemical Industries. The project is slated for completion in 2006 and will have a capacity of 110 000 tonne/year.

A Tosoh spokesman said that the company's joint venture partner for the project, also a Japanese firm, did not yet want to be named. He added that the plant would be majority-owned by Tosoh. Tosoh is also planning expansions for its subsidiaries, specifically PVC maker Philippine Resins Industries Inc (PRII), which is already scheduled to increase its capacity to 100 000 tonne/year from 90 000 tonne/year through debottlenecking next month.

The individual cost of the VCM expansion projects was not given, but Tosoh said it was part of its plan to invest Yen47bn in integrated chloralkali operations in Japan and Asia. That includes a previously announced Yen22bn investment in production facilities for aniline and carbon monoxide, which would expand the isocyanate link of its vinyl chain - the integrated manufacturing operations that produce several key vinyl-related chemicals.