Toray to produce resin for plastic bottles

JAKARTA (JP): PT Indonesia Toray Synthetics announced yesterday the establishment of a joint venture company which will build Indonesia's first polyethylene terephtalic (PET) resin for plastic bottles in Tangerang, West Java.

The US$34 million plant, to be designed with an annual capacity of 30,000 tons, will meet the country's demand for PET resin, which is estimated at 20,000 tons a year.

The company estimated Indonesian demand for PET resin has been growing by 15-20 percent a year as a result of the rapidly expanding beverage (notably soft drink and mineral water) and pharmaceutical industries.

The joint venture company will be capitalized at about US$11 million, of which Toray Industries Inc. will own 32.5 percent, Mitsui Petrochemical 37.5 percent, Indonesia's Petindo Group 15 percent, Mitsui & Co. Ltd. five percent and Toray's Indonesian subsidiary, PT Indonesia Toray Synthetics 10 percent.

"The joint venture partners will enable the plant to supply high-performance PET resin to industrial users," Toray Indonesia said in a press release.

The company said the plant, slated to start production in early 1996, besides fulfilling local demand will also export part of its production.

"Our plant therefore will enable Indonesia both to save foreign exchange, which has now to be spent on imports and to generate additional export earnings," the release added.

Indonesia at present depends entirely on PET imports mainly from Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. (vin)