News Release: Mar.22.2000 issue. Sumitomo Dow Ltd. Optical Media Grade Polycarbonate (Calibre1080DVD*) production

Sumitomo Dow Ltd. (SDL) is going to start Optical Media (OM) grade production at Polycarbonate plant in Niihama Japan after the completion of the annual maintenance shutdown in mid April.

SDL have added facilities such as clean room, analytical lab. and so on for the production of OM grade since mid last year after the internal approval of this project. SDL plan to start the sales of OM grade Polycarbonate in Southeast(SE) Asia countries (Through Dow Pacific) while starting promotion in local customers in Japan. The capacity of OM grade production is 10,000 tons per year.

The Dow Chemical Company, one of SDL's parent companies, has been producing OM grade polycarbonate for the U.S., Europe and SE Asia since 1997.
Currently Polycarbonate supply and demand situation globally have been tight, especially OM grade in SE Asia.

SDL's new capacity is required to meet increased demand and to provide local supply of the material in SE Asia and Japan.

*Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company.

Sumitomo Dow is a joint venture between Sumitomo Chemical Co., (Japan) and The Dow Chemical company (USA), established as the Polycarbonate resin production and marketing company in Japan.

Spec. sheet of Calibre 1080 DVD is below:
(Typical properties; not to be construed as specifications.)