2 foreign investors build polymer plants in Cilegon

Japanese and Thai companies, in cooperation with their local partners, are building petrochemical plants in Cilegon, Banten with total investment of about Rp 1 trillion, the secretary general of the association of olefin, aromatic and plastic industries (Inaplas) Fajar D.D. Budiyono said.

Fajar did not name the companies, but said that the two factories were scheduled to begin production in 2014, each with production capacity of 60,000 tons of super absorbent polymer (SAP) and 100,000 tons of polymer synthetic rubber (PSR).

?PBI [PT Petrokimia Butadiene Indonesia] and its partner will produce PSR, while the Japanese firm will produce SAP,? he said, adding that the two factories were currently under construction.

?An investor from South Korea also plans to build a similar factory in Merak, but is still having difficulty to find the land, he said, adding that the Korean company?s plant with a capacity of 1.5 million tons a year was expected to begin production in 2016 or 2017, he said. (*)