PVC Project Starts Construction in Guangzhou

On July 22 Tosoh (Guangzhou) Chemical Co., Ltd. held the ceremony for starting the construction of a PVC project in Nansha Economic Development Zone, Guangzhou, Guangdong province. It is the first PVC project in China wholly owned by a Japanese company. The project has a capacity of 220 000 t/a and a total investment of US$75 million. Production is expected to start in December 2006.      Tosoh (Guangzhou) Chemical Co., Ltd. is composed of 4 listed companies of Japan. Tosoh Corporation that holds 67% equity in the company is a large comprehensive petrochemical enterprise in Japan. It has an existing capacity of 1.08 million t/a VCM in Japan and will also complete a 400 000 t/a VCM expansion project in November 2005. The output of VCM will reach 1.48 million tons a year at that time. Other investors include Mitsuibishi Corporation., Mitsui & Co. and Marubeni Corporation.     VCM for the PVC production in the company will totally be supplied by Tosoh Corporation. According to an executive of the company, the PVC project is constructed in Guangzhou Nansha because all the clients are located within a radius of 100km centering on Nansha plant. Products will totally be sold to the Chinese market, mainly Guangdong and surrounding areas.     China has become the second largest PVC consumer in the world. Nearly one third of the domestic demand has to depend on imports. The demand of PVC in Guangdong is around 1.8 million tons a year, accounting for 26% of the national total.