Tokyo (Jiji Press) -- Japan's Daikin Industries plans to set up a joint venture in China with major French chemical maker Arkema to make chlorofluorocarbon, informed sources said Monday. The joint venture will build a plant near Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, starting as early as this autumn, the sources told Jiji Press. The plant will produce hydrochlorofluorocarbon, or HCFC, which is used as a refrigerant fluid for air-conditioning and a raw material for fluorine resin and rubber. Daikin currently produces fluorochemicals at another Jiangsu plant by using materials supplied by Arkema. A senior Daikin official said the two companies have decided to launch joint production in order to secure a stable supply and to cut production costs.
