Japanese compounder boosts auto PP grade presence in Americas

Almost half of this new capacity to be added by Mitsui Chemicals (Tokyo) will come from the acquisition of a 70% equity stake in Brazilian compounder Produmaster Indústria e Comércio Ltda. (São Paulo) by Mitsui group company Prime Polymer Co. (Tokyo). The Brazilian entity will be renamed as Produmaster Advanced Composites Indústria e Comércio de Compostos Plásticos Ltda.

Produmaster supplies products to major auto makers through two sites: its head office and production facilities located in Mauá, São Paulo (38,000 tonnes/year), where many auto makers are located; and its 50%-owned subsidiary Produmaster do Nordeste Ltda., located in Camaçari in the northeastern state of Bahia (17,000 tonnes/year capacity). The subsidiary in Camaçari will become a 50:50 joint venture of Produmaster Advanced Composites and current partner Alberto de Boni Neto. Previous Produmaster Indústria owner Vicente Eudes de Freitas will retain a 30% stake in Produmaster Advanced Composites.

Mitsui Chemicals also plans to add capacity at its U.S. affiliate Advanced Composites Inc. (Sidney, OH), boosting capacity by 28,000 tonnes/year from the current 226,000 tonnes/year by the third quarter of 2013. Its Mexican operation Advanced Composites Mexicana S.A. de C.V (Aguascalientes) will also see compounding capacity boosted from the current 45,000 tonnes/year to 70,000 tonnes/year by the fourth quarter of 2013. Finally, Chinese affiliate Mitsui Advanced Composites (Zhongshan) Co., Ltd. will boost its compounding capacity from 60,000 tonnes/year to 70,000 tonnes/year also by the fourth quarter of 2013.

The Mitsui Chemicals Group has production sites in seven of the major world markets (Japan, United States, Europe, Thailand, China, and India) for automotive grade PP and targets strengthening and expanding its production operations. An expansion at its Thai affiliate Grand Siam Composites (Bangkok) will boost capacity there from 122,000 tonnes/year to 140,000 tonnes/year by the third quarter of this year.-[email protected]