Ube Raises Metallocene PE Sales Target

Ube Industries of Japan has set a goal of selling 40,000 tons of metallocene polyethylene (mPE) this fiscal year, up 30% from the 30,000-ton sales target achieved in fiscal 1998. This will bump up capacity utilization at the company's Chiba factory to 80%, and in 2000 the firm expects this business to break even.

Ube Industries began the commercial manufacture of metallocene PE in October 1995 after transplanting metallocene catalyst technology from the former Mitsui Petrochemical Industries (now Mitsui Chemicals) into a 50,000-t/y mPE facility at its Chiba factory. Since then, both companies have been cultivating markets for the product.

This collaborative relationship with Mitsui Chemicals was broken off in March 1998, which forced Ube Industries to form new sales routes independently and resulting in a cooperative effort to cultivate markets with Ube group resin processors.

The super-thin, high-strength characteristics of metallocene PE have contributed to steady demand growth for the product in such areas as film for packaging fresh foods. Ube Industries' sales of the product climbed from 8,000 tons in the fiscal 1998 first half to over 20,000 tons in the second to reach 30,000 tons for the full year.