SEOUL, South Korea (July 19, 2011)—Kumho Mitsui Chemicals, a joint venture of Japan Mitsui Polyurethane and Korea Kumho Chemicals, is increasing capacity at its Yeosu, South Korea-based methylene diphenyl diisocyanate facilities in an expansion that is expected to be completed in the second part of 2012.
The debottlenecking of this MDI plant will see its full capacity rise by 50,000 metric tons per year, a company source said.
To cope with rapid automobile and consumer goods development in China and South Korea, the market demands for MDI and polyurethane products remain at high levels. One of the main raw materials for polyurethane materials, MDI mainly is used auto interior parts, refrigeration insulation and building materials.
A Kumho Mitsui spokesperson said the firm will invest $30 million to expand the MDI facility.
BASF also recently announced that it would increase its MDI capacity at Yeosu by 60,000 tons a year to 250,000 tons.