Kuraray Co., Ltd. has held the groundbreaking ceremony for its new production plant for EVAL® EVOH resin plant in Singapore. Accordingly, the new plant will rise inside the Kuraray Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kuraray.

The company plans for the new plant to have an annual EVOH resin production capacity of 18,000 tons. Moreover, it will have future expansion plans of up to 36,000 tons for the front-end process. On the other hand, the backend process will have two phases, where the first phase is currently ongoing.

Kuraray held the groundbreaking ceremony on August 6. Furthermore, the company’s executives and employees attended the groundbreaking ceremony. Among them are Hiroyuki Shimo, Executive Officer and EVAL Division Manager; Yoshiki Miyagi, General Manager of the Technology Division; EVAL Division Manager Hiroyuki Shimo; and Kuraray Asia Pacific President Fumio Uegaki.

Total investments for the new plant is US$410 million.

Environmentally Friendly

EVOH resin was the world’s first to be developed and commercialized by the company in 1972. Most importantly, it has the highest level of gas barrier properties among functional resins. It is difficult for gases such as oxygen to pass through, and it can prevent the deterioration of the contents. Thus, this has been suitable for food packaging applications and contributes to reducing food waste.

Recently, from the perspective of a circular economy, there has been an increasing need for environmentally friendly products for packaging. Thus, a shift to recyclable packaging materials has been emerging. Particularly, there has been an increasing demand for Kuraray’s EVAL resin for this application.

Demand for EVAL resin has been increasing because its barrier material does not disrupt the recycling streams of polyolefins. The company expects demand to increase further globall, particularly in Europe and the United States.

Thus, as a leading company in EVOH resin and barrier materials, the company group aims to further expand its business. Moreover, it also aims to contribute in improving the natural and living environments.

As the Group continues to enhance its business portfolio, it has positioned EVOH resins as one of its company-wide growth and expansion businesses. Finally, the company said it will continue to actively promote the expansion of this business as a leading company in the EVOH business and barrier materials.

14 August 2024