Nippon Polyurethane Industry Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Katsusuke Sawai: hereafter referred to as Nippon Polyurethane) and Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corp. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Taketsugu Fujiwara) have decided to construct a new HDI (hexamethylene diisocyanate) manufacturing plant, with the objective of expanding HDI production capacity at their joint venture Nanyo Kasei KK (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Kazuki Sasaki; hereafter referred to as Nanyo Kasei).

Polyisocyanate products manufactured using HDI as a raw material are employed primarily as urethane coating curing agents in a wide variety of coatings, such as for automobiles, buildings, and plastic products. These segments are growing rapidly in the Asian region, centered on China, and demand for HDI-based products is forecast to continue to expand.

In order to respond to increasing demand for HDI-based products, Nippon Polyurethane and Asahi Kasei Chemicals have decided to construct a new plant that will double current manufacturing capacity for HDI at Nanyo Kasei.

A design capacity of 20,000 metric tons/yr is planned for the new plant, and overall HDI production capacity at Nanyo Kasei once the new plant starts up, including that of existing plants, will be approximately 40,000 metric tons/yr. The construction site is within the Nanyo plant site of Nippon Polyurethane, and commercial start-up is scheduled for the summer of 2007.

Further, the HDI produced by Nanyo Kasei will, as is currently the case, be offtaken by both companies, converted into their respective unique products, and then marketed.