Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) will join forces with South Korea’s Hanwha Chemicals Corporation to establish two factories in Saudi Arabia.  

The joint venture will be called Saudi Specialty Products Company and will be aimed at creating conversion industries that are in line with the kingdom’s industrial diversification programme.

One of the manufacturing facilities will be built at Hail in the north of Saudi Arabia. The plant will produce 4,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) film. The second will be built at Riyadh and will produce 1,000 t/y of plastic moulds.

The technology provider for the EVA plant will be Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals Tohcello, while Germany’s Kiefer Werkzeugbau will provide the technology for the plastic moulds facility.

The total investment will be about $60m and the plants will create a total of 180 jobs. The projects are in line with Riyadh’s plans to vastly increase the number of conversion industries aligned to the petrochemicals sectors, which are highly labour-intensive when compared to the capital expenditure.

EVA film is used in the solar industry as a component for thin-film solar photovoltaic (PV) module production, while the Riyadh facility will manufacture moulds for use in plastic and encapsulation plants.

Sipchem will retain a 75 per cent stake in the new venture, with Hanwha owning the remaining 25 per cent.