Toray Industries (Tokyo / Japan; www.toray.com) has taken full control of French carbon fibre producer Soficar (Paris; www.soficar-carbon.com), acquiring the 30% stake held by Arkema (Paris; www.arkema.com). The company, operated by the Japanese partner as the strategic base for its composites business in Europe, has been renamed Toray Carbon Fibers Europe. Soficar currently produces 5,200 t/y of carbon fibre at sites in Japan, France and the US. A new plant will go on stream in South Korea in 2013.

After taking full control of its European arm, Toray said it plans to “further accelerate” the integration of the value chain for its “Torayca” fibre. New production lines will be built for fibre precursors and prepregs used in aeronautics applications, and carbonisation capacity also will be expanded. The Japanese group estimates that global demand for polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fibre in 2011 totalled nearly 40,000 t. Going forward, it forecasts annual growth rates exceeding 15%.