01/07/2008 23:12. Tokyo, July 1, 2008 (Jiji Press) - Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. 4188 President Yoshimitsu Kobayashi is confident that his group will achieve its target of posting an operating profit of at least 190 billion yen in the year through March 2011, despite soaring naphtha prices.

Prices of naphtha, a key raw material used in various petrochemical products, have surged to around 90,000 yen per kiloliter in line with higher crude oil prices, far above the 68,000 yen the company assumed in its medium-term business plan in May.

In an interview Tuesday, Kobayashi described the ongoing surge in crude oil... // Japan Corporate News