MGC Advanced Polymers (MAP; VA) has announced that it started the construction of Nylon-MXD6 plant in Chesterfield County, VA. MAP has already purchased about 15 acres of property in Chesterfield County, VA. Construction of the facility started last November and will be completed by the end of 2004. The Commercial operation will start from early 2005. The total investment will be about US$ 18 million. Though initial production capacity of this plant starts from 22 million lbs/year, this state-of-the-art facility is designed to expand its capacity as the demand grows in the future.

MAP is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company ( Tokyo, Japan ), and will start operation with about 30 employees. Marubeni owns 20% of all the shares.

Total capacity of existing plants that Mitsubishi owns in Japan is approximately 30 million lbs/year, and still has some reserve capacity for global demand at present. However, to provide better service and a more reliable supply to the US customers, Mitsubishi decided to make this investment in the US .

At present, Nylon-MXD6 is used for automotive parts and food packaging in US. Nylon-MXD6 is starting to be recognized widely in the food packaging market as a thermally stable gas barrier material, and the demand in this market has been growing continuously.

James N. Gray Company ( Lexington, KY ) won the bid for the General Contractor. Gray made a great effort to achieve the quotation met with Mitsubishi's budget with satisfying process requirements.

Mitsubishi is giving high priority in Nylon-MXD6 business which is growing globally especially in the food packaging market. Mitsubishi owns broad range of intellectual properties of new technologies like nanocomposite, co-polymer and additives, and plans to license them to MAP. In the near future, Mitsubishi and MAP will be launching new variations of Nylon-MXD6 which will have a higher gas barrier or enhanced adhesion with other resins. Mitsubishi is planning to develop the Nylon-MXD6 business globally by establishing its production base in the US .