Toray to Enhance Production Capacity of ABS Resin TOYOLAC® at Malaysian Subsidiary

Toray Industries, Inc., (headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President: Akihiro Nikkaku; hereinafter referred to as “Toray”) today announced its decision to enhance production capacity of ABS resin TOYOLAC®, manufactured at and distributed by Toray Plastics (Malaysia) Sdn. Berhad (headquarters: Penang, Malaysia; President: Akihiro Omura; hereinafter referred to as “TPM”). The company will add a facility with production capacity of 75,000 tons annually to expand the sales of high performance varieties such as transparent grade, which has the No. 1 global market share, and start its operation in November 2020. The move will increase TPM’s production capacity to 425,000 tons a year and Toray Group’s capacity with the existing facility at Toray’s Chiba Plant to 497,000 tons a year.

Made up of acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene, ABS resin is plastic that is light, strong and elegant with excellent processability, and it is used for an extremely wide range of applications from industrial items to household goods. In 2017, global demand for overall ABS resin was 8.5 million tons, which is expected to grow steadily at 3% a year, as demand increases in China, ASEAN and emerging countries. Of the total, global demand for high performance ABS resin with added properties such as heat resistance and chemical resistance and transparent ABS resin considered to be 2 million tons, and expected to grow at 4% annually or more.
　Toray decided to increase the production capacity to ensure to capture the growing demand for the transparent grade TOYOLAC® has the largest share in the global market for its cost competitiveness and stable quality achieved using its proprietary continuous polymerization production process. 

Toray also lines up general-purpose grade TOYOLAC®, transparent grade TOYOLAC®and high performance grade TOYOLAC® including antistatic and improved chemical resistance and scratch resistant grades. While Chiba Plant, the mother plant, will shift to primarily produce even higher performance ABS category mix such as medical-use transparent ABS, the production enhancement in Malaysia will accelerate entry into the European, U.S. and Indian markets in addition to its existing main markets of China and ASEAN countries and extension of the products’ applications.

　Toray is promoting the expansion and upgrading of the global business as one of the basic strategies of the medium-term management program Project AP-G 2019. Going forward, the company will further strengthen organic cooperation between the Chiba Plant, the Japanese ABS resin production base, and TPM, the Malaysian production base, and vigorously expand the global business.

Profile of Toray Plastics (Malaysia) Sdn. Berhad (TPM)​

1. Company name：Toray Plastics (Malaysia) Sdn. Berhad
2. Business:  Manufacture and distribution of ABS resins and distribution of PBT resins, etc.
3. Head office：Penang, Malaysia
4. Established：July 1990
5. Representative：President Akihiro Omura