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.