Indorama plans joint venture with Huvis for new plant in US
Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a global chemical producer, and Huvis Corporation (HC) of South Korea have announced their intention to establish a 50/50 joint venture for the development, construction and operation of a low melting fiber (LMF) plant in the United States, IVL said in a statement on Tuesday.
The location is being finalised and the joint venture is expected to be established in 2018 and be operational in 2019, subject to various agreements and regulatory approvals.
The new plant will manufacture LMF, with an annual capacity of 60,000 tonnes. LMF is commonly used as a binder fiber for automotive and industrial composites, such as wadding, insulation, filtration, automotive acoustic insulation material and other products where heat is used to bond the fibers.
The initial volumes of LMF will be sold in the US, with the potential to significantly expand its scope into neighboring regions.
LMF sales are expanding at a rate of 8 per cent a year as manufacturers have been converting from conventional chemical adhesives to a thermo-bonding methods, said IVL.
