MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Corp. will invest KRW 50 billion (USD 47.1 million) to add production facilities for high value-added purified isophthalic acid (PIA), a move that is expected to nearly double the PIA output of the Korean company to cement its world’s top rank in the field, as per GV.
Lotte Chemical said on Monday (15 Jan 2018) its board approved the KRW 50 billion investment plan to ramp up its production facilities for PIA in Ulsan, South Gyeongsang Province.
PIA is the raw material of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and unsaturated resins. Only seven makers across the world can currently produce it, and the Korean producer has dominated the global market since 2014.
Following the addition, Lotte Chemical’s PIA production capacity is expected to jump from 460,000 t/y to 840,000 t/y. The added facilities will also house facilities that can manufacture purified terephthalic acid, a company official said, adding that an increase in output of the two high-value added products would help the company improve profitability and price competitiveness. The company aims to complete its construction by the second half of next year.
As MRC wrote before, in May 2016, Lotte Chemical Corp. has finalized the takeover of Samsung Group’s chemical units.The company said that it paid for money to acquire Samsung SDI Chemical on Apr. 29 and completed the acquisition of Samsung Group’s chemical businesses in about six months after the announcement of "Big Deal" in October 2015. Samsung Fine Chemicals, which was completely taken over by Lotte in Feb., changed its name to Lotte Fine Chemical, while SDI Chemical, which completed the acquisition process on the 29th, changed its name to Lotte Advanced Materials through the general meeting of stockholders.
Established in 1976, Lotte Chemical has been solidifyng its position by localizing cutting-edge petrochemical technologies. Among the high-quality products produced by Lotte Chemical through its efficient processes are ethylene, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PP, functional resin, EG, SM, PIA, PET, etc. Lotte Chemical’s products are being distributed to 152 countries around the world. With the acquisition of Pakistan’s PTA in 2009, Artenius in the UK in 2010 and Titan Chemical Corp., Lotte Chemical is now able to efficiently supply excellent products to an increasing number of countries. The company is further accelerating its efforts to strengthen its global competitiveness by establishing overseas branches in Hong Kong, Russia, and USA, along with the sales corporation in China for active sales activities both in domestic and abroad.
MRC