Several local newspapers have reported that Dow Chemical (Midland, Michigan / USA; www.dow.com) and Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals (Tokyo; www.mitsuichem.com) have decided to postpone their 50:50 biopolymers joint venture in Santa Vitória, Minas Gerais / Brazil – for most recent coverage, see Plasteurope.com of 11.11.2011. The two companies originally had planned to start operating a sugarcane-to-ethanol plant at the site, with a reported nameplate capacity of 350,000 t/y of different PE grades.

According to Valor Econômico, the plant was delayed as a result of Dow’s decision to focus on more profitable projects elsewhere in the world, in particular those using cheaper US shale gas. Earlier this month, the US chemical giant said it would recommence operations at its “Olefins 2” unit in Louisiana in the wake of the ongoing US feedstock revolution – see Plasteurope.com of 04.01.2013.

While construction of the sugarcane plant remains on schedule, news reports say, biopolymer production has been delayed both as a result of rising costs as well as uncertain land ownership legislation issues in Brazil. Dow and Mitsui are reportedly growing sugarcane to feed the plant on 50,000 acres of land, which they plan to harvest in 2014.