350 000 T/A VCM Starts Construction in Tianjin

On May 23, the ground breaking ceremony for the VCM/EDC (vinyl chloride monomer/ ethylene di-chloride) project was held in Lingang Industry Zone of Tanggu, Tianjin.     With a total investment of US$300 million, occupying 5 hectares, adopting the advanced ethylene process, the new facilities will include 350 000 t/a VCM, 300 000 t/a EDC and 240 000 t/a caustic soda. Nearly all of VCM will go into PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride), which is used for manufacturing plastic products in the building and construction sector. EDC is the base chemical of which 95% is used for producing VCM.     The new facilities will be established as a joint venture named Tianjin LG Bohai Chemical Co., Ltd., the investors comprised of LG Chem (45%), LG Petrochemical (20%), LG International (10%), LG Dagu (10%), and Tianjin Bohai Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (15%).      Tianjin was selected as the most suitable site for the new VCM and EDC facilities due to its stable supply of electricity and salt, another reason is that the site is close to LG Dagu -- the LG Chem's PVC plant in China with a capacity of 340 000 t/a, and the distance of the new VCM and EDC plant from LG Dagu is only be 10 kilometers.    The strong PVC demand in China, which has been increasing by approximately 10% since 2003, is expected to meet with tight supply until 2008. Overall, the annual PVC demand in China is estimated to be 6.85 million tons while the annual supply is only around 5.19 million tons.      At the end of last year, LG Chem signed an agreement with Tianjin Bohai Chemical Co., Ltd. to establish the VCM and EDC plant by the end of 2006. (CCR2004 No.36)