Japan's Mitsui Chemicals and Korean petrochemical producer SKC plan to merge their polyurethane production and their distribution channels in Asia, Europe and North America into a 50:50 joint venture.

The two companies hope their cooperation will help reduce costs and give them more critical mass in competition with industry giants such as Germany's BASF and Bayer MaterialScience, Dow of the US and emerging Chinese market players.

April 15 is the planned launch date for the new jv, which will employ around 650 people, with the bulk of the workforce coming from SKC. The new company is expected to generate sales of $1.5 billion in fiscal 2015, which run from April 2015 to March 2016.