January 18, 2025 – Mitsubishi Chemical has announced its decision to terminate plans for a new MMA monomer plant in Louisiana, USA. This determination was made during the advancement of front-end engineering design and regulatory permitting processes.
The company had originally intended to construct a 350,000-tonne-per-year MMA monomer facility in the Geismar area of the state to meet global market demands. Scheduled to commence operations in 2025, the plant was set to utilize the group’s proprietary “Alpha Process,” a novel ethylene-based technology, sourcing ethylene from US shale gas. However, as the project progressed, Mitsubishi Chemical found that its existing MMA monomer manufacturing facilities in Tennessee and other locations in the USA could already fulfill current market requirements.
According to AsiaMB, economic factors such as inflation have led to a substantial increase in capital investments. Additionally, negotiations with clients for long-term transaction commitments failed to yield the anticipated results. These combined factors contributed to Mitsubishi Chemical’s decision to halt the investment plan. The project, once envisioned as the company’s largest MMA monomer plant globally, was expected to cost over 100 billion yen (approximately 5 billion Chinese yuan).
Despite achieving several regulatory milestones and a hearing scheduled by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality on February 1, 2024, Mitsubishi Chemical ultimately decided to abandon the investment plan. Due to impairment losses incurred from the project, the company will record a loss of approximately 20 billion yen (around 930 million Chinese yuan).
In its announcement, Mitsubishi Chemical stated that it will continue to optimize its global production system by establishing new business locations and consolidating existing ones to enhance the competitiveness of its MMA business. Furthermore, the company will focus on growth strategies such as high-value-added applications and the development of new applications in line with its “New Medium-Term Management Plan 2029” announced on November 13, 2024.