Nan Ya to expand in petrochemicals

Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), Taiwan's largest plastics maker, said it will invest in expanding petrochemical production to boost earnings through lower labor costs and increased sales.

"Our major investment projects will mostly focus on petrochemicals," Wu Chia-chau (吳嘉昭), the company's executive vice president, said in an interview in Taipei yesterday.

"We aren't expanding in plastics processing" because this business is more labor intensive, Wu said.

The company, the world's biggest maker of plastic used in raincoats, imitation leather handbags and window frames, wants to boost production of petrochemicals and electronics components, such as materials used to make printed circuit boards.

The company's net income last year increased to a record NT$43.5 billion, or NT$6.23 per share. That's more than double the NT$17.2 billion, or NT$2.46 the company earned in 2003.

Nan Ya Plastics is spending about NT$10 billion (US$322 million) building two petrochemical plants in Taiwan, Wu said. The company will invest US$37 million in China to make bisphenol A, a chemical used in electronics products, including DVDs, according to a March 10 stock exchange filing.