PR:PEEK Compound Marketing Collaboration

Daicel-Evonik Ltd.
Polyplastics Co., Ltd.

Daicel-Evonik Ltd. (president: Taiji Yamabe), an engineering plastics subsidiary of Daicel Chemical Industries, Inc., and Polyplastics Co., Ltd. (president: Noboru Goto) announce they will collaborate to enlarge the Japanese market for polyether ether ketone (PEEK) compounds under the trade name VESTAKEEP®, manufactured by Evonik Industries A.G. (Germany). Marketing activities will be started up within this year.

In addition to excellent chemical resistance and sliding friction behavior, VESTAKEEP® PEEK compounds are also characterized by creep, fatigue resistance, and many other mechanical strength properties under high-temperature conditions (200 deg.C and above). In recent years, PEEK compounds have attained a position of prominence among many other engineering plastics because of their suitability for use in an increasingly broad range of applications including electronic and automotive products and semiconductor manufacturing equipment components. The market for PEEK compounds in fiscal 2007 was 3,000 tons worldwide and 300 tons in Japan. Although sales volumes have been decreasing since the last half of 2008 due to the impact of the Lehman Brothers shock, double-digit growth of sales is a possibility in the future.Daicel-Evonik Ltd. has already begun import and sales of VESTAKEEP® in Japan. The company will aim for faster expansion of its existing sales network by utilizing Polyplastics' considerable know-how in development of markets for a broad range of engineering plastics. Polyplastics aims to strengthen its product portfolio through the synergistic effect that the addition of VESTAKEEP® will have on its ample lineup of engineering plastics businesses (POM, PBT, PPS, LCP). In the first year, Polyplastics will concentrate on market research to evaluate business feasibility.

English translated the news release that we announced in Japan into the above.