As part of a move to tap the robust demand in growing markets of China without its major stakeholder BP Plc. as partner, South Korea's Samsung Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (SPC) has opened an office in Shanghai. BP has announced sale of its stakes in the Korean firm, due to take effect in the first half of this year. BP said it will sell its 47.41% stake in Samsung Petrochemical in July, after the major announced plans in September 2005 for a US$399 mln investment with Chinese partner Fuhua Group Ltd. to expand a plant in China for PTA production.
Samsung plans to open more offices in business centres such as Beijing, and will no longer play middleman to BP in China. The company is also seeking to expand its business in Southeast Asia, Russia and India. It seems that BP will have to develop direct contacts with Chinese firms to set up local offices in the hubs to sell its purified terephthalic acid (PTA) at a time when foreign firms are losing ground in China's PTA market as domestic producers raise production to meet firm demand.
BP is the world's largest producer of PTA, while over 50% of Samsung's 1.8 mln ton PTA production is exported to China.
20-Mar-07 
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