Mitsui Chemicals Business Will Be Reorganized

Recently, Mitsui Chemicals said at a press conference to introduce its operating conditions to investors that as part of its business restructuring efforts, the company is considering reducing its domestic phenol business and optimizing Japan's domestic ethylene cracking and polyolefins businesses with a view to transform into a specialty chemicals manufacturer by 2030.

According to reports, Mitsui Chemicals is considering reducing the production scale of its domestic phenol/acetone plant. The reason is that Idemitsu Kosan decided to withdraw from the bisphenol A business before October 2024 due to oversupply, and phenol and acetone are raw materials for the production of bisphenol A. Mitsui Chemicals operates a plant in Chiba with an annual production capacity of 114,000 tons of acetone and 190,000 tons of phenol. It also has an acetone production capacity of 120,000 tons/year and a phenol production capacity of 200,000 tons/year in Sakai City.

In terms of olefins and polyolefins, Mitsui Chemicals has two cracking units in Japan, with a total ethylene production capacity of approximately 1.1 million tons per year. Mitsui Chemicals previously stated that due to poor profits, the company intends to close the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant at the Iwakuni Daitake Plant in October 2024. Its ethylene glycol demand has dropped sharply, affecting its ethylene demand. For the polyolefin business, Mitsui Chemicals said that after its subsidiary Preman closed the 110,000 tons/year polypropylene production line at its Chiba plant in March this year, it will consider optimization through "multi-company cooperation." Primeman's new 200,000 tons/year polypropylene plant is expected to be put into operation in 2024. This is part of Mitsui Chemicals' plan to reorganize the existing production system according to the "Decommissioning and Construction Plan".

Mitsui Chemicals plans to implement an "ideal state" development plan for its ethylene cracking business before the end of the 2025-2026 fiscal year, and will optimize production capacity based on demand fundamentals. The company operates naphtha cracking units in Chiba and Sakai cities. The Sakai cracker can produce 500,000 tons/year of ethylene, while its Chiba cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 612,000 tons/year.

Mitsui Chemicals reiterates its transition to cleaner production. The company, together with Maruzen Petrochemical, Toyo Engineering and Sojitz Machinery, launched a pilot project in 2022 to convert cracker feedstock from traditional methane-based fuel to fuel with ammonia as the main component. In July 2023, Mitsui Chemicals announced its plans to develop into Japan's first company to start producing and selling chemicals and chemically recycled plastics based on mass balance methods. Mitsui Chemicals will use waste cracking raw materials in the Osaka cracking unit from January to March 2025.