Opening Ceremony for Bio-Polyol Joint Venture in India

Mitsui Chemicals & SKC Polyurethanes Inc. (“MCNS”) celebrated the official launching of its joint venture bio-polyol manufacturing company in India, Vithal Castor Polyols Pvt. Ltd. (“VCP”), with an opening ceremony on February 25th.

At the ceremony, Co-CEOs of MCNS Ki Don Won and Hiroyasu Ishimaru and Jayant Agro-Organics Ltd. Chairman Abhay V. Udeshi addressed the guests which included ministers from the South Korean and Japanese missions in India and other important persons.

VCP was established as a joint venture of Mitsui Chemicals (Tokyo:4183; President & CEO: Tsutomu Tannowa), Itoh Oil Chemical Co., Ltd. (President: Masatsugu Akita), and India's Jayant Agro-Organics Ltd. The company aims to manufacture and sell bio-polyol using Indian castor oil from non-edible plants as a main raw material. 80% of the world’s castor oil is produced in India. VCP’s manufacturing plant in India, which commenced commercial operations this January, will allow the company to stably supply overwhelmingly cost competitive bio-polyol.
It should be noted that as Mitsui Chemicals integrated its polyurethane business with Korean SKC Co., Ltd. (CEO: Wan Jae Lee) to form MCNS, Mitsui Chemicals investment now falls under MCNS.

MCNS manufactures and sells urethane materials for wide applications including refrigerator insulation materials. In the automotive field, not only is MCNS the largest supplier of polyurethane materials for interior use to Japanese and Korean makers, it is the only manufacturer in the world to commercially supply bio-polyols derived from non-edible plants.

With the commencement of commercial operations at VCP, it will now be possible to supply bio-polyol at costs competitive to fossil fuel-derived polyol. MCNS aims to expand sales in automotive applications by capitalizing on its strong system house^＊ network comprised of nine Asian sites, including those in Japan and South Korea, and three sites in the Americas and Europe.

＊System House: Manufacturing and sales bases which provide premium services catering to individual customer needs in the formulation of polyurethane foam materials including those derived of bio-polyol.

＜VCP Outline＞