Japan's Mitsui Chemicals and Prime Polymer, in which Mitsui Chemicals has a 65% stake, announced plans to jointly establish a company to build a new polypropylene plant in the Netherlands, the companies said in a joint statement Wednesday.
The plant's capacity will be 30,000 mt/year and operations are expected to start in June 2020.
The new company will be Mitsui Chemicals' first European production base for polypropylene compounds in response to growing global demand from the automotive sector.
"Recently strengthened environmental regulations have driven an increasing global need for lighter automobiles," the statement said. "As a result, demand for PP compounds is rising each year to meet lightweighting needs in bumpers, instrument panels and more."
Polypropylene compounds are thermoplastic resins produced using a blend of polypropylene with various components such as pigments, fillers, reinforcements and impact modifiers.
