CP unit to expand into bioplastics

The Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group is studying the possibility of jointly investing almost two billion baht  (US$59.8 million) with its U.S. partner Nature Works to upgrade its bioplastics business in Thailand. Chaipong Chainapakorn, senior vice-president of CPPC Public Co., said the joint venture would produce a minimum of 24,000 tons annually of polylactic acid (PLA), now purely imported for domestic use. CPPC, the petrochemical arm of the CP Group, currently buys PLA polymers from Nature Works and Metabolix, also from the U.S., to serve its packaging business that includes petroleum-based and bioplastic production. Nature Works, the world’s top PLA supplier, would provide technology to produce corn-based PLA, while CP has expertise in farm crops that would be used as raw materials. “We think that the project has potential because the world is going to use more and more bioplastics, than petroleum-based plastics due to declining petroleum reserves and the environmental benefits,” Chaipong said. On the supply side, world production of bioplastics is only 500,000 tons, or just 0.25% of the 200 million tons of plastics produced annually. (June 20, 2008)