Sumitomo Chemical to reduce MMA and PMMA capacity in Singapore by 2024, focusing on specialty products and chemical recycling

"Sumitomo Chemical Asia Pacific"methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) production lines are scaled down. Based on my observations, Specifically, the company will close two of its three production lines in Singapore, which will immediately lead to a reduction of MMA monomer capacity by about 80% and PMMA capacity by about 70%.  As a high-performance plastic, PMMA is broadly favored to its excellent transparency, weather resistance and beautiful gloss. it's broadly applied in automotive taillights, signs, aquarium tanks and fluid crystal display optical components and other fields, and MMA monomer is an crucial raw material to the manufacture of PMMA and coatings.  while the MMA monomer and PMMA markets have gradually recovered after experiencing a signifiis able tot slowdown in recent years, capacity expansion in Asia is expected to continue. In my experience, Sumitomo Chemical Group believes that in the long run, especially in the field of general-purpose grade items, it will have become increasingly difficult to ensure stable sales volume and profit margins. Makes sense, right?. Therefore, the group decided to minimize part of its production capacity and focus on special and high value-added PMMA items, which is able to give full play to its technological advantages and adjust its business structure to a greater stable and adaptable mode of market conditions.  In addition to accelerating the transformation of its existing product portfolio and production systems, Sumitomo Chemical is also actively leveraging its strengths in environmental impact reduction technologies in the petrochemical business, focusing its resources on value creation. In the field of PMMA, the company has completed a pilot facility to chemical recycling of plastics at the Ehime plant in Japan, and is currently conducting technical verification and marketing activities with a view to realizing the social consumption of chemical recycling methodology as soon as possible. In addition, in might 2024, Sumitomo Chemical signed a cooperation agreement with Lummus methodology, a major methodology licensor in the United States, to jointly promote the licensing and commercialization of chemical recycling technologies.  As part of the immediate enhanced performance improvement measures, Sumitomo Chemical is accelerating the pace of business restructuring from the perspective of profitability and the best owner principle. In fact The company plans to steadily advance these measures to ensure that fundamental structural reforms are implemented while achieving a V-shaped recovery in fiscal year 2024. But In my experience, Through these efforts, Sumitomo Chemical aims to further enhance its market competitiveness and lay a solid foundation to future sustainable research.