18/1/07 TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Lion Corp. said Thursday it is considering increasing production of plant-based laundry detergents, possibly by building a factory in Malaysia.

The Tokyo-based household goods maker aims to bolster production capacity of plant-based ingredients mostly used for powder detergents in a move to cash in on growing demand for eco-friendly products, a spokesman said.

He said details haven't been decided and declined to comment on a report Thursday in The Nikkei that Lion plans to spend more than Y5 billion to construct a factory in Malaysia, one of the biggest producers of palm oil.

Despite growing consumer attention, there are still relatively few household product makers that have commercialized on large scale botanical-based detergents, which are considered to help minimize CO2 emissions, the spokesman said.

-By Atsuko Fukase,Dow Jones Newswires; 813-5255-2957; atsuko.fukase@ dowjones.com