Rayong Governor Surasak Charoensirichote presided over the foundation stone laying ceremony together with Mr. Supattanapong Punmeechaow, President and CEO of PTT Global Chemical PLC, or GC, Dr. Kongkrapan Intarajang, Chief Operating Officer – Upstream Petrochemical Business, Mr. Patiphan Sukhonthaman, Chief Operating Officer for Downstream and Top Management of GC; Mr. Masaaki Ito, President of Kuraray Co., Ltd.; and Mr. Shingo Ueno, Senior Managing Executive Officer, Mineral Resources, Energy, Chemical & Electronics Business Unit of Sumitomo Corporation, who joined the ceremony on September 3, 2019. The three companies have jointly invested in a performance and specialty chemicals business that will produce advanced plastic products under the Thermoplastic Elastomer and Polyamide Production Plant Project and the Isobutylene Derivative Production Plant Project for KURARAY GC ADVANCED MATERIALS CO., LTD., and KURARAY ADVANCED CHEMICALS (THAILAND) CO., LTD.’s projects in the WHA Eastern Industrial Estate (Map Ta Phut) Rayong.

Mr. Supattanapong Punmeechaow, President and CEO of GC, said that GC first invested in the Hemaraj Eastern Industrial Estate in Rayong province. This investment was in accordance with the government's investment policy to meet the goals of the EEC. KURARAY GC ADVANCED MATERIALS CO., LTD., or KGC, is a joint venture with GC that will use the relevant raw materials in its production process to produce advanced plastics. The other two joint venture companies partnering with GC are Kuraray Co., Ltd., or KRR, Japan's leading specialty chemicals and manufacturing technology and Sumitomo Corporation, or SC, a leading trading and investment company. GC holds 33.4% of shares in the joint venture, while KRR holds 53.3% and SC holds 13.3%.

The KGC joint venture project will energize investments in the petrochemical and chemical industries to support the Thai government’s policy of promoting industrial investments in the EEC with a production capacity of 13,000 tons/year of PA9T and 16,000 tons/year of HSBC. Scheduled for completion in 2022, the project follows GC’s strategic business direction of expanding into performance and specialty chemicals in its downstream petrochemicals business to increase its presence in the automotive and electrical & electronics (E&E) sectors. There is strong demand for performance and specialty chemicals in these sectors and both offer long-term growth potential. GC plans to use raw materials from its Olefins Production Unit to add value to products manufactured by KGC. These two projects mark an important step forward by allowing GC to support new S-Curve industries in-line with the government’s policy to move the country forward through its Thailand 4.0 initiative. They will also expand GC’s business into performance chemicals by adding value to products, in accordance with GC’s strategic plan and direction.