SUMITOMO Chemical Co plans to spend 10 billion yen (US$84 million) to set up five plants for automotive resin by 2009 to meet demand, the Nikkei newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the information.

The company expects demand to increase for resin materials used for car parts such as bumpers, as Japanese automotive makers expand production overseas.

Sumitomo Chemical will build factories in the United States, India, Thailand and Saudi Arabia by 2009, and acquire a 50-percent stake in AK&N UK Ltd, an Asahi Kasei Corp affiliate, as early as September, the Nikkei reported.

The company currently produces resin materials at its plants in Chiba Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, and China. The new plants will more than triple Sumitomo Chemical's capacity for resin materials to 166,000 tons a year in 2009 from 50,000 tons currently, Bloomberg News said.