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Region's top plastics maker eyes Viet Nam
Thailand's Plastic and Chemicals (TPC) plans to turn more attention to the Vietnamese and other markets instead of expanding business activities in Thailand.
Kanet Khaochan, Managing Director of the TPC, which is the largest polyvinyl chloride polymer (PVC) maker in Southeast Asia, said that because of the difficulty in business expansion and over-availability of PVC in the domestic market, it was hard for the company to continue primarily focusing on Thailand. Therefore, the TPC would look to expanding exports and operations abroad.
A source said that the company would join hands with Thailand's SCG Chemical to build a petrochemical complex in Viet Nam, with construction scheduled to take place from 2011 to 2015. The Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) will be an investment partner in this project.
The TPC entered the Vietnamese market in 1995 through a joint venture with the Viet Nam National Chemical Corporation and the Viet Nam Plastic Corporation.
The TPC Vina joint venture, which was the first petrochemical company in Viet Nam, has supplied PVC resin in Viet Nam since 1998.
TPC's PVC production capacity in Viet Nam is currently estimated at 110,000 tonnes a year. With a production expansion in Viet Nam, which is due to be completed this month, capacity is expected to increase to 200,000 tonnes a year.
Thailand's PVC market currently amounts to 450,000 tonnes a year while the three leading PVC manufacturers produce 880,000 tonnes per year.
Thailand's PVC consumption fell 5 per cent in the 2007-09 period due to political uncertainty, which has forced the TPC to focus on other markets in ASEAN, the Middle East, South Africa, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand.
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