Shintech Louisiana LLC will spend $1.49 billion to expand its Plaquemine manufacturing operations, the latest in a string of Shintech investments in Louisiana totaling $6 billion over nearly two decades. This expansion will create 120 new direct jobs, with an average salary of more than $81,800.
Shintech, which is a subsidiary of the Japanese chemical giant Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., employs about 500 at its sites in Plaquemine and Addis, both in Louisiana.
As part of the project, Shintech will develop a new chlor alkali and vinyl choride monomer production facility and expand an existing polyvinyl chloride manufacturing facility in Plaquemine.
The Louisiana Economic Development (LED) is offering Shintech a $1.5 million Modernization Tax Credit over a five-year period, as well as the LED FastStart workforce training program. Shintech also is expected to use the state’s Quality Jobs tax break and the Industrial Tax Exemption Program, which abates property taxes for capital projects.
“We are pleased to proceed with this project and are going to carry out the construction at full throttle,” Shintech President Yasuhiko Saitoh said in a statement. “This investment builds on our local and global sales capabilities and aligns with our long-range plan to leverage our economy of scale in the U.S. for production of PVC and caustic soda.”
The integrated PVC manufacturing facility is expected to be completed in late 2020 and operational in early 2021. PVC is used in a variety of applications in the building and construction, health care, electronics, automobile and other sectors.
Image courtesy of The Advocate/Bill Feig