31-Mar-17 In a bid to reduce dependence on China, petrochemical majors in South Korea, led by LG Chem Ltd., are seeking to diversify their export destinations and establish more overseas production facilities, in a bid to reduce their dependence on China, as per sources in Yonhap.
LG Chem, the country’s No. 1 player in the chemicals sector, is attempting to expand its presence in North America and Europe to sell its high-end products, and reduce exports to China that currently account for almost 60% of foreign sales. LG Chem has been operating plants in Vietnam and Poland, and selling goods produced at its production facilities there.
Lotte Chemical Corp., the second-largest petrochemicals firm also operates plants in Malaysia, the United States and other countries. In 2010, the company took over Titan Chemicals Corp. Bhd., a Malaysian petrochemical company, for 1.5 trillion won (US$1.2 billion won). Lotte Chemical is seeking to build a joint venture in the U.S., along with Axiall Corp., a leading U.S. chemicals firm. The company built a gas chemical complex in Uzbekistan last year.
SK Global Chemical, a unit of the country’s top oil refiner SK Innovation Co., formed a partnership with Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) last year, one of the world’s largest petrochemical groups, to start a global nexlene business. It already has a naphtha cracker center in China, established in a joint venture with China’s state-run refiner Sinopec Corp. in 2014. Early this year, the company said it would take over Dow Chemical Co.’s ethylene acrylic acid (EAA) business in a bid to diversify its business portfolio. The deal includes the purchase of EAA production facilities in the United States and Spain, and the related technology, it added.
Source : Korea Bizwire
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