<article><a href="http://www.irpc.co.th/index_main.php" target="_blank">IRPC Plc</a> is to invest 10 billion baht ($304.87 million) next year to expand its production capacity of polypropylene, which is a part of its five-years investment plan outlay of 65 billion baht ($1.98 billion) during 2014-2018.</article>

<a href="http://www.irpc.co.th/index_main.php" target="_blank">IRPC Plc</a> is to invest 10 billion baht ($304.87 million) next year to expand its production capacity of polypropylene, which is a part of its five-years investment plan outlay of 65 billion baht ($1.98 billion) during 2014-2018.
IRPC’s president Sukrit Surabotsopon said that it would boost the annual production capacity of polypropylene from 475,000 tons to 775,000 tons. It expects to open for the construction bidding in the early 2015 and take two years to complete. “After this project is completed, we will have the largest production capacity of propylene in Thailand,” he said.
Besides, it plans to develop its own industrial estates on 4,000 rais of land, half of which is in Rayong province and the other 2,000 rais in Songkla province.
“We are considering various business models where we will either invest on our own or find a partner. We will finalise this during the beginning of next year, and then propose to the board for approval of the budget to develop the infrastructure,” he said.
It targets to attract environmentally-friendly industry to the industrial estate in Rayong, and attract the rubber and palm oil-related industry to invest in its estate in Songkla.
The company has postpones it&#8217;s joint-venture project with PTT Global Chemical Plc (PTTGC) under which, it had to set up a Paraxylene plant; due to low spread. This project requires an investment of $1.5 billion for total paraxylene production capacity of one million tons a year.
IRPC and PTTGC, the petrochemical arms of PTT Group, are studying the possibility for merging. It is expected to be announced by the second half of next year. After merging, PTTGC will become the world’s fifth largest petrochemical firm, up from the 22nd rank at present.
In the third quarter, IRPC posted the net profit of 22 million baht ($0.67 million), down 98% from 1.026 billion baht ($31.28 million) in the same period in 2013. But the net profit for the first three quarters in 2014 are 544 million baht ($16.58 million), up from 42 million baht ($1.28 million) in the same period last year.

Thailand's IRPC plans $300m investment in 2015

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