Sumitomo breaks ground on facilities in Singapore and Brazil

Sumitomo in groundbreaking of SSBR plant in SingaporeJAPANESE firm Sumitomo Chemical recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new 40,000 tonnes/year
solution styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR) plant in Singapore, based on the high growth of SSBR in tyres.

The company says it decided to construct the new SSBR plant in Singapore because of its geographical advantage in the supply to rapidly growing Asian markets and stable procurement of the raw material
butadiene as well as tie-ups with existing businesses of the group in the region. The facility is scheduled
for completion in June 2013 and commercial operations are planned to begin during the fourth quarter of 2013.

The company, expecting further demand growth, is working on a plan to build an additional plant to increase production. It also has a 10,000 tonne/ year-plant in Japan. Another subsidiary in the group, Sumitomo
Rubber Industries, also recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for its first tyre production factory in South America.

The ceremony was carried out on the construction site of the passenger tyre factory in Fazenda Rio Grande City, Parana State, Brazil.

The company says it is catering to the growing automotive and tyre sectors in the country. Sumitomo plans
to begin producing passenger tyres at the plant in October 2013. Production capacity will be 15,000 tyres/day by the end of 2016.(PRA)