Expansion of TAFMER™ Production in Singapore
August 30, 2012
Mitsui Chemicals,Inc.
Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. ("MCI") (Toshikazu Tanaka, President & CEO) announced production augmentation of TAFMER™, a high performance elastomer, at its wholly-owned subsidiary Mitsui Elastomers Singapore Pte Ltd ("MELS") (Atsushi Komoriya, President) production facilities in Singapore.
Outline of production augmentation
| 1. Product | TAFMER™ |
| 2. Location | MELS Works on Jurong Island, Singapore |
| 3. Increase | 8,000 tons/year for specialty TAFMER™ Warehouse and logistic facilities |
| 4. Investment | approximately 2.5 billion yen |
| 5. Completion | October 2013 (tentative) |
TAFMER™, positioned as one of the Group’s five world-leading businesses, is a flexible, lightweight elastomer with wide applications in automotive, industrial, and packaging material industries as an enhancer to improve characteristics of thermoplastic resins or as a base material in flexible products.
Demand for TAFMER™ is forecasted to grow around the world and especially in Asia in line with economic growth and industrial advances. Use of specialty TAFMER™ as an enhancer of engineering plastics is expected to grow as production of lightweight vehicles increase around the world.
To respond to these market needs, the Group decided to establish new production facilities in Singapore for specialty TAFMER™ in addition to current production facilities located in Japan.
The Group has continued to reinforce global logistics for its TAFMER™ business by establishing logistic hubs in North America and Europe. The current move will strengthen logistic functions at MELS through quality improvement of warehouse and logistic facilities in Singapore.
Mitsui Chemicals and MELS actively target strengthening and expansion of cutting-edge, high performance TAFMER™ business through intensification of production, sales, technology, and logistics.
Outline of MELS
| Name | Mitsui Elastomers Singapore Pte Ltd |
| Establishment | 2001 |
| Location | Singapore |
| Capital | US$96.3 million |
| Production capacity | 200,000 tons/year |
| Business area | Production and sales of high performance elastomers, mainly TAFMER™ |
