Asahi Kasei Chemicals to Build New Battery Separator Plant

Tokyo, Feb. 27 (Jiji Press)–Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corp., a unit of Asahi Kasei Corp. , said Wednesday it will build a 6-billion-yen plant for producing lithium-ion battery separators in Hyuga, Miyazaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

The plant is due to start operations in 2010 with an annual output capacity of 20 million square meters, the company said.

The move responds to surging demand for the rechargeable battery separators for use in mobile phones, notebook personal computers and digital cameras, said Asahi Kasei Chemicals, which holds about half of the global market for the product.

The company is also due to expand the annual output capacity of its existing separator plant in Moriyama, Shiga Prefecture, western Japan, from 100 million square meters to 150 million square meters at a cost of 10 billion yen.END

(c) 2008 Jiji Press English News Service. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.