November 15,
2005
Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corporation
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Duranate™ production base to be established in China
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Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corporation
(“AKCC”) has made the decision to establish
a wholly-owned subsidiary in China for production
and sale of its Duranate™ hexamethylene
diisocyanate (HDI) based polyisocyanate, to meet
the rising demand for this product. As currently
planned, the subsidiary will start operation of
a new Duranate™
production facility in the spring of 2007 with
a plant capacity of 10,000 tons per year.
Background and purpose of the new Duranate™ operation
Duranate™ is a high-performance HDI-based polyisocyanate
developed and produced by AKCC as a curing agent for non-yellowing urethane paints
and coatings and as a production material for inks, adhesives, casting moldings,
and other products, and is widely used in automotive, architectural, heavy-duty
structural coating, and other fields of application in Japan and overseas. Domestic
and overseas demand has grown steadily since its initial production in 1978 and
particularly during the past several years, and production capacity at the domestic
Hyuga Chemicals Plant in Miyazaki Prefecture has been expanded in parallel with
this growth, to its current level of 10,000 tons per year.
The establishment of the new Duranate™ production
and sales base is part of the AKCC transformation to a business portfolio of
high value-added operations. It will facilitate the maintenance of a stable supply
for Duranate™ customers
worldwide while meeting the particularly fast-growing market demand in Asia,
and for this purpose will be located at Nantong City, Jiangsu Province and thus
within the fast-growing market and economy of the People’s Republic of
China. While expanding and strengthening the Duranate™ supply
base, it will solidify the position of AKCC as one of the world’s leading
suppliers of HDI-based polyisocyanate, and provide the basis for further expansion
and growth.
Chinese governmental approval has been received
for the company establishment, and construction of the new production
facility is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2006.
| The new company |
| Name |
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Asahi Kasei Performance Chemicals (Nantong) Corporation |
| Location |
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Nantong Economic & Technological Development Area,
Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China |
| Establishment |
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November 2005 |
| Paid-in capital |
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¥2,200,000,000 |
| Operations |
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Production and sale of Duranate™ HDI-based
polysiocyanate |
| Plant production capacity |
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10,000 tons per year |
| Plant schedule |
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| Groundbreaking: |
Spring 2006 |
| Start-up: |
Spring 2007 |
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