PLA producer NatureWorks (Minnetonka, Minnesota / USA; www.natureworksllc.com) has opened its first Asian regional headquarters in Bangkok / Thailand, enhancing support for its “Ingeo” customers in the area and setting the tracks for further growth. The establishment of the new office also goes hand in hand with the hiring of new staff.

Rich Weber has been appointed the commercial director of the new regional hub, tasked with marketing bio-based Ingeo throughout the region and establishing new distribution relationships in Southeast Asia and India. In addition, Weber – who comes to NatureWorks from parent company Cargill (Minneapolis, Minnesota / USA; www.cargill.com) – will coordinate Ingeo sales and set up further commercial operations to support regional business development.

He will be assisted by Viboon Pungprasert, the new general manager of NatureWorks Asia Pacific, tasked with overseeing the business from Bangkok. Pungprasert, who previously served as assistant vice president of international business development at PTT Global Chemical (Bangkok / Thailand; www.pttplc.com), said the regional hub plans “to add warehousing and logistics capabilities, which will improve our supply chain by providing safety stock and the flexibility to ship product samples.”

Aside from these two appointments, NatureWorks also hired other business development and technical personnel in Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan to increase customer support and support further development in the regional market.

Meanwhile, local newspapers report that the new regional hub already has touted plans for a new THB 24 bn (EUR 603m) plant to be set up in Southeast Asia this year. However, Pungprasert reportedly told local media that NatureWorks Asia Pacific would receive the best tax priviledges from Malaysia, not Thailand, adding that the Malaysian government exempts corporate tax income for 10 years, while also subsidising raw material and energy costs, whereas the Thai authorities only offer corporate tax benefits for 8 years.

The benefits put the new company, which is a 50:50 joint venture with Thailand's PTT Global, at odds, not least because the kingdom also offers a plethora of raw materials, including sugar cane and tapioca (for more details on Thailand's bioplastics potential, see also Plasteurope.com of 07.12.2009). The reports add that half of the proposed investment money will go towards phase one of the plant, which is expected to turn out 75,000 t/y of PLA by 2015 or 2016, with the remaining funds earmarked for phase two, at the conclusion of which output is to be doubled.