Kureha Corporation announced its plan to increase production capacity for polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) at its Iwaki Factory in Fukushima, Japan. PVDF is used as a binder material for lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) and as an engineering plastic in various industrial applications. In recent years, as electric vehicles rapidly expand on the back of heightened environmental awareness, demand for LiB binder is robust and growing in the automotive market.

The Kureha Group currently manufactures PVDF at the Iwaki Factory in Japan (6,000 tons/year) and its wholly-owned subsidiary in China (5,000 tons/year). To address growing customer demand and further expand the PVDF business, which is the most promising business at the Group, Kureha will undertake a capacity expansion project as outlined below. This project involves technologies to reduce the impact of manufacturing operations on the environment and is carried out with the Group's largest-ever investment.

New PVDF manufacturing facility: Location: Kureha Iwaki Factory (16 Ochiai, Nishiki-cho, Iwaki-shi, Fukushima, Japan) Assets to be acquired: Building and equipment. Completion of facility construction: March, 2026. Production capacity: 8,000 tons /year.

Paid-in capital: Approx. JPY 70 billion. Under the new mid- and long-term management plan 'Toward Creating a New Future,' Kureha has an expansion strategy, focusing on the Advanced Materials, in particular, PVDF, which is positioned as a key growth driver.

In addition to building the above new manufacturing facility, which will become operational a few years later, Kureha will until then implement measures to improve earnings in the business, such as debottlenecking and improving capacity at its existing facilities, developing new polymer grades, and strengthening and optimizing its global supply system. Kureha has been qualified to receive government grands for the above expansion project.