LG Chem to remove factory and equipment due to sluggish business in South Korea

South Korean chemical giant LG Chem has removed the entire Gimcheon plant in North Gyeongsang Province and some of the facilities at its Naju plant in South Jeolla Province.
The Gimcheon plant is a manufacturing facility for superabsorbent polymers (SAP), which the company acquired from the oil and chemical division of Kolon, a major chemical materials manufacturer, in 2008 with an investment of approximately 90 billion won (approximately 9,613,540,000 yen).
) factory, with an annual production capacity of 90,000 tons. It had been operating steadily until now, but the decision was made to demolish it due to the aging of the facilities and intensifying price competition with China. SAP production will be expanded to an annual production capacity of 410,000 tons.
The company plans to transfer the production facilities for styrene acrylic latex (SAL) at the Naju plant to the new plant in Daesan.
The plant will be transferred to a new facility, which is scheduled to go into operation after a trial run between July and December. This will reduce transportation costs and promote the integration of facilities.
The latest measures come in response to the sluggish business conditions in the petrochemical industry.
Prices for general-purpose products continue to fall and demand for them slows, forcing major Korean companies to make large-scale cuts in production and remove less productive facilities.
An LG Chem official said, "Employees from the two factories where the equipment will be removed will be relocated to other locations."
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