Written on 14.03.2013 - Industry
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New butadiene rubber production JV in Malaysia

Ube Industries, Ltd., Lotte Chemical Corp., Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Sdn. Bhd., and Mitsubishi Corp. have established a 40/40/10/10 joint venture to manufacture and market butadiene rubber (BR) for the Asian market. The new JV is named Malaysian Synthetic Rubber Sdn. Bhd. and is located in Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia.

The JV will be licensed manufacturing technology from Ube and will construct production facilities with a capacity of 50,000 t/y of BR. The new plant will employ approximately 84 people and is scheduled to start manufacturing in 2014. In addition, the JV has plans to add a further 22,000 t/y production capacity as demand dictates. Lotte Chemical Titan Holding will supply the JV with the raw material butadiene (BD). According to Ube, demand for BR is expected to grow by some 6 – 7 % in the future, centring on the Asian market.

Ube currently operates BR production plants in Japan, China, and Thailand. Its BR production capacities in Chiba, Japan, of 110,000 t/y and of 72,000 t/y in Thailand and in China respectively add up to a total capacity of 254,000 t/y. Ube says it also plans to add a further 16,000 t/y of production capacity at its Chiba site in late 2013.

Lotte Chemical has two BD production plants in Daesan and Yeosu, South Korea, with production capacities of 150,000 t/y each, and a plant in Malaysia operated by its subsidiary Lotte Chemical Titan Holding with a capacity of 100,000 t/y.