China's Jiujiang Petrochemical, a subsidiary of Sinopec, plans to build an 80,000 tonne/year ethylbenzene/styrene monomer (EB/SM) plant at Jiujiang city in Jiangxi province, a company source said on Monday.

The project will cost yuan (CNY) 663m ($105m) to build, with construction expected to start in the second half of this year, the source said.

The plant, which is expected to cater to the Chinese domestic market, is slated for commercial operations in end-2013, the source added.

Jiujiang Petrochemical has plans to expand its annual refinery capacity to 8m tonnes by the end of the year, from 5.5m tonnes currently, the source said.