The Dow Chemical Co., Midland, MI, announced the start-up of production at the company's 41,000 metric-ton per-year epoxy resin plant in China. The facility will produce solid epoxy resins for use primarily in powder coatings, solid solution epoxy resins for marine and protective liquid coatings, and brominated epoxy resins for the production of electrical laminates. The plant, located near Shanghai, will supply resins to markets in China, other Asian countries and Australia. Dow also operates epoxy resin plants in Korea and Japan. In China, Dow operates a styrene butadiene latex plant and a joint-venture polystyrene plant that began production in 2002.