MOSCOW (MRC) -- Toray Industries, Inc. has announced that it has formulated a plan to expand the polyester staple fiber business at Toray Chemical Korea Inc., the acquisition of which Toray completed in February 2014, to pursuit synergy effects within Toray Group, said the producer on its site.
According to the plan, Toray will boost production capacity of low melt polyester staple fiber (LM polyester staple fiber) at TCK’s Gumi I Plant in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do by about 1.7 times to 170,000 tons.
The additional LM polyester staple fiber production facility is expected to start production in July 2016.
In addition, Toray will also increase production capacity of bi-component staple fibers of both polypropylene-polyethylene and polyester-polyethylene (bi-component fibers) used to produce nonwoven fabric for personal hygiene materials materials, whose demand has been growing rapidly.
LM polyester staple fiber is used as binder (a bonding agent) to combine staple fibers using heat in the manufacturing process of nonwoven fabric, and it is mainly used in nonwoven fabric used for acoustic insulation material for automotive and cushions for mattress and other furniture.
In July 2004, prior to Toray’s acquisition, TCK started producing LM polyester staple fiber and currently has the third biggest share in the global market. With the expansion of production facility, Toray Group aims to establish its position in the growing LM polyester staple fiber market and increase sales of and income from nonwoven fabric staple fiber.
Moreover, the market of nonwoven fabric for personal hygiene materials, for which bi-component fibers are used, is expected to grow at an annual rate of 6%, due to the demand increase reflecting improving living standard of the people in emerging countries primarily in Asia and the advent of the aging society in developed countries.
In preparation for the expansion of polypropylene spunbond market, Toray Group has been enhancing its production capacity in major countries in Asia. The composite fiber production capacity increase at TCK would enhance the product lineup of the materials, from filament to staple fibers, used in nonwoven fabric for personal hygiene materials products.
As MRC wrote before, in late December 2014, Toray Industries, Inc. announced that the company and its subsidiary Toray Advanced Materials Korea, Inc. would expand the production facility for high-performance polypropylene (PP) spunbond at P.T. Toray Polytech Jakarta (TPJ) by 18,000 tons per year. After the enhancement, the production capacity of TPJ will be about 37,000 tons per year, boosting the Toray Group-wide PP spunbond production capacity to about 153,000 tons per year. The added production facility at TPJ is expected to start operating in September 2016.
Toray Industries is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan that specializes in industrial products centered around technologies in organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry, and biochemistry. Its founding business areas were fibers and textiles, as well as plastics and chemicals. Toray Group Malaysia companies are involved in four main businesses -- polyester fibres, textiles, plastic resins and polyester films.
MRC