Mitsui invests more in Asia

Mitsui invests more in Asia

TOKYO (Reuter): Mitsui Petrochemical Industries Ltd will invest 50 billion yen (US$436.1 million) to enter petrochemical business in Asia, a major Japanese financial daily reported on Saturday.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper quoted company sources as saying the petrochemical giant will spend 35 billion yen ($304 million) to establish a terephthalic acid production plant in India in 1999.

Mitsui will also invest 15 billion yen ($131 million) in a high-density polyethylene production plant in Singapore in 2001, the financial daily reported.

The Singapore facility will be world's largest polyethylene production facility, producing up to 300,000 tons annually, with the India plant expected to turn out up to 350,000 tons of terephthalic acid per year, the daily reported.

The company aims to meet an expected seven percent annual growth until the year 2000 in demand for general-use resins in Asia, the Nihon Keizai reported.