Mitsubishi Plastics, Inc. (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President Takumi Ubagai) announces that its high-barrier PET bottles, which have stronger barrier properties for oxygen, etc. than general PET bottles, will be used for Japan’s largest sake brewery Hakutsuru Sake Brewing Co., Ltd.’s new product “HAKUTSURU SAKE PET MARU 1.5L” to be introduced throughout Japan on August 30.

  The high-barrier PET bottles are produced based on the diamond-like carbon (DLC) technology* to have oxygen barrier performance 10 times more excellent than general PET bottles, which realizes superior quality preservation feature for the content of the bottle. That feature, along with PET bottles’ light and unbreakable properties, receives a high evaluation from brand owners as well as distributors and retailers. The bottles were used for wine, sake and other alcoholic beverages in 2010 for the first time in the industry and demands have been significantly growing since then.

  Having been first employed by Hakutsuru in September 2011, the bottles are now used for four of the sake brewer’s products and will also be used for “HAKUTSURU SAKE PET MARU 1.5L” and “HAKUTSURU SAKE PET SUKKIRI KARAKUCHI JUNMAI 1.5L,” which will be released across the country on August 30. Hakutsuru expects “HAKUTSURU SAKE PET MARU 1.5L,” one of its large-volume categorized products, to sell more after the PET bottled items join the lineup of cartons and glass bottles. Also from August 30, the four items already in the PET bottles (“JOSEN HAKUTSURU SAKE PET 1.5L,” “HAKUTSURU SAKE PET KARAKUCHI 1.5L,” “HAKUTSURU SAKE PET KOME DAKE NO OSAKE 1.5L,” and “HAKUTSURU SAKE PET KURA SHIBORI NAMA 1.5L”) will be sold in new bottles that were redesigned to make it easier to know that the content is sake.

  To respond to the robust demands, the Company is now building a new production line for the PET bottles at its Hiratsuka Plant (Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture) to start operation in November this year. The Company will consider further capacity expansion to meet growing demands and will also work to create new markets for the highly-functional PET bottles by recommending them not only for alcoholic beverages including sake and wine but also for cooking oils, seasonings, dressings, supplements and medicines.

 

※This is a technology to deposit a thin carbon film on the inner wall of the PET bottle by placing the bottle in a vacuum, filling it with acetylene gas, and generating a plasma, which dramatically increases the ability of the wall to prevent permeation of gases such as oxygen. Compared to regular PET bottles, treated ones are 10 times better at preventing oxygen permeation, 7 times better at preventing carbon gas permeation, and 5 times better at preventing water vapor permeation. Other companies such as Kirin Brewery Company hold patents for this same technology.

[New Items of Hakutsuru Sake Brewing]

     

 

from left to right
*HAKUTSURU SAKE PET MARU 1.5L
*HAKUTSURU SAKE PET SUKKIRI KARAKUCHI JUNMAI 1.5L
*JOSEN HAKUTSURU SAKE PET 1.5L
*HAKUTSURU SAKE PET KARAKUCHI 1.5L
*HAKUTSURU SAKE PET KOME DAKE NO OSAKE 1.5L
*HAKUTSURU SAKE PET KURA SHIBORI NAMA 1.5L

The product is designed to offer domestic customers in principle: there will be a need for various procedures for confirmation in the case of export.

 

 

For further information please contact:
Public Relations and Investor Relations office,
Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation.
TEL: +81-3-6748-7140