Mitsui & Co Deutschland GmbH (Königsallee 63-65, D-40215 Düsseldorf) reports that the Japanese company Kuraray Co Ltd – Germany: Kuraray Eval Europe GmbH (Schiesstr. 68, D-40549 Düsseldorf) – plans to build a new plant to produce ethylene/vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) in Antwerp, Belgium. The installation, which will cost DEM 150m, is set to begin production in autumn of 1999 and have a capacity of 10,000 t/y. Kuraray has manufacturing sites for EVOH in Okayama, Japan, with 10,000 t/y and Pasadena, Texas, USA with 21,000 t/y. EVOH plastics are used as barrier materials for such purposes as food packaging and plastic fuel tanks.

According to Mitsui, construction of the new plant in Antwerp is beginning at a time in which the demand for EVOH is increasing dramatically. Due to many new applications in food packaging and the development of plastic fuel tanks, demand is expected to increase by 30% within the next three years.