SCG Chemicals to expand its overseas market

New production capacity is to come onstream at SCG Chemicals in Q1-10, boosting capacity from 1 to 1.8 million tonne. The plant to be located at Rayong will produce 4,00,000 tonne per annum (tpa) of high-density polyethylene and 4,00,000 tpa of polypropylene. The company, which is Thailand's leading chemical manufacturer, is currently experiencing deteriorating demand in domestic markets in line with the global economic meltdown. Domestic demand growth for polypropylene is projected to fall almost five per cent on plummeting performance of the automotive and electronic industries.

The packaging sector will increase growth for polyethylene by about 0.5-1 per cent. SCG Chemicals plans to expand sales by exploring overseas markets to use the additional capacity, increasing exports from the current 30 per cent of production to over 50 per cent to countries with continuing robust demand like China, India as well as Southeast Asian nations.