Mitsui Chem, Sinopec plan petrochem plants -Nikkei

Published: 01 Nov 2009 17:25:04 PST

TOKYO, Nov 2 - Japan's Mitsui Chemicals and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) plan to spend 60 billion yen ($670 million) to build two factories in Shanghai to produce resins and synthetic rubber, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.

The two firms will invest 40 billion yen to build a plant to produce 250,000 tonnes of phenol annually and spend another 20 billion yen for a factory with annual output capacity of 75,000 tonnes of synthetic rubber materials, the Nikkei said.

The phenol plant is scheduled to start production in spring 2013, and construction of the rubber factory is set to be completed by the end of 2013, the paper said.

Demand for petrochemical products, used for automobiles and consumer electronics, continues to grow at an annualised rate of 6 percent in China, which takes in about 45 percent of Japan's petrochemical exports, the Nikkei said. ($1=89.69 Yen)