Mitsubishi Rayon and PTT Together Explore a Joint Venture in Carbon Fiber Business in AEC

Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Tokyo, Japan; President: Hitoshi Ochi, hereinafter “MRC”), and PTT Public Company Limited (Head Office: Bangkok, Thailand; President: Pailin Chuchottaworn, hereinafter “PTT”) announced today the MOU signing of a joint study of carbon fiber bushiness in ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
 
MRC and PTT expect high growth of carbon fiber demand in the region of South East Asia where the local demand still remains high and believe that Thailand will be the strategic location for their new facility due to its fully developed automotive industry. The joint study will target downstream businesses in automotive, energy (natural gas and renewable energy), civil engineering and infrastructure.
 
MRC and PTT anticipate up to 100 billion JPY (up to 30 billion THB) sales of carbon fiber composites by 2020 in the region. The joint study will include an evaluation of potential demands for carbon fiber in Thailand and South East Asia region together with the feasibility study of new carbon fiber and its composites plant in Thailand. At the beginning stage, the joint collaboration will mainly focus on exploring automotive part and pressure vessel demands as the first priority. PTT, together with MRC believe that low cost natural gas containers made of extremely strong and light weight carbon fiber composites are the key technological breakthrough which will contribute to the transportation sector, unfolding the possibility to maximize fuel efficiency globally. Both companies expect to conclude the joint study by the end of 2013.   
 
MRC, one of the leading carbon fiber manufacturers, continues to grow by expanding its capacity to meet global demand for carbon fiber products. A joint collaboration with PTT enhances MRC to globalize its manufacturing capability and support Asian customer base. MRC’s expertise in manufacturing carbon fiber composites will be contributed to joint collaboration.
 
PTT, as a fully-integrated energy company in Thailand who operates in upstream toward downstream products including various types of petrochemical products, believes that value can be brought in to the joint study through its strong market network in the region. This potential investment will be a stepping stone for PTT towards its growth strategy to be a technologically advanced and green national oil company. PTT aims to develop high technology material and integrate into its supply chain products while offering more product choices to customers to fulfill responsibility as the national oil company of Thailand and all stakeholders.
 
 
About carbon fiber
Carbon fiber offers the high performance of high tensile strength making carbon fiber stronger than steel and even lighter than aluminum. Technologically advanced companies and brands in the United States, Europe and Asia are primarily using carbon fiber as material for sporting goods, aircraft components, automobile parts and wind turbine blades. Carbon fiber attracts rising attention from aircraft and automotive industry as material that contributes to lighter weight products and superior fuel efficiency products resulting in CO2 emissions reduction and energy savings.  More recently, carbon fiber is heavily being utilized in the renewable energy and other environmental fields especially wind turbine blade application.