Mitsubishi Materials plans to bolster US business

Mitsubishi Materials plans to invest as much as JPY3bn-4bn (US$24.9m-33.2m) to bolster its US business, according to reports in the Nikkei Asian Review.

As early as 2016, the company will restart its Long Beach, California, receiving terminals and holding facilities that have been put on hiatus since 2009.The cement maker will also build new terminals and facilities in San Diego, with construction scheduled to start in 2017. The two installations will handle 2.5Mta, which will be sourced from the company's plants in Japan and China and sold to the US market.

Mitsubishi Materials also owns a 1.6Mta cement plant in Cushenbury, California. The Nikkei reported that the plant is largely running at capacity, but that Mitsubishi has said it will be difficult to boost output because of environmental regulations.

In addition, the company will make more concrete aggregate to meet rising demand. It will lift the rate of operation at its Californian aggregate quarries 50 per cent in 2015, creating operations capable of producing 1.8Mta.