Toray BASF PBT Resin Sdn. Bhd., a 50-50 joint venture between Toray Industries Inc., Japan, and BASF Aktiengesellschaft, Germany. It has successfully started commercial production on schedule in April 2006, at its newly built world-scale Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT) plant in Kuantan, Malaysia.

The PBT plant has an annual capacity of 60,000 metric tons and involved capital expenditure of approximately US$40 million. The new plant is operated using the most advanced polymerization technology from Toray. While the raw material, butanediol (BDO), is procured from BASF’s subsidiary BASF PETRONAS Chemicals, which is located next to the plant.

Toray is the first Japanese company to establish a PBT polymerization plant outside Japan. Along with the new plant in Malaysia, Toray is setting up its supply system in response to the global demand by organizing the PBT division at its ABS resin production site, Toray Plastics Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (TPM), Penang, Malaysia.

Together with the expansion of the company’s compound bases; Toray is going to organize the most appropriate worldwide operation system for the highest global competitiveness and expansion of PBT resin business.