| Jan. 9, 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Toray to Expand Carbon Fiber Production in France |
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Toray Industries, Inc., announced today the
expansion of production capacity of PAN-based carbon fiber at Soci t des
Fibres de S.A. (SOFICAR, located at Abidos in France, a joint venture with ATOFINA
which has a 30% share) in response to the growing demand for carbon fiber in
Europe. In addition to this, Toray announced its plan to expand the production
capacities of acrylic fiber ("precursor", raw material of PAN-based
carbon fiber) at its Ehime plant in Japan. The additional production capacities are 1,800 tons per year for the PAN-based carbon fiber production line at SOFICAR and approximately 4,000 tons per year for the "precursor" production line in Ehime. Both are scheduled to come on stream in August 2004. Total investment amount will be about 8 billion Yen. After completion of the new production lines, the Toray Group's annual production capacity of PAN-based carbon fiber will reach 9,100 tons per year (with SOFICAR producing 2,600 tons per year). At present, the global demand for PAN-based carbon fiber is approximately 18,000 tons per year. Over the next decade, the demand is forecasted to continue growing at 6% per year with the recovery of aeronautical applications and expansion of industrial applications. Especially in Europe, the growing aeronautical applications are expected to include the start of Airbus A380 production (first commercial flights scheduled for 2006), while industrial applications will cover areas such as windmill blades, high-pressure tanks, civil engineering, automobiles and marine uses. Against the background of such demand growth, Toray has decided to reform its supply system in Europe, which has been relying greatly on imports from Japan and the U.S. In this way, Toray will commit itself to providing better service with European production. Toray regards carbon fiber production as one of its strategically expanding businesses in "Project New TORAY 21," which is a business reform project for "New TORAY in the 21st Century". This investment forms part of the company's strategic investments for "Project New TORAY 21." Based on its worldwide PAN-based carbon fiber operations in the Japanese, Asian, U.S., and European markets, Toray intends to expand its businesses worldwide as a leading carbon fiber manufacturer. |
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