Kumho Petrochemical to beef up global leadership

Kumho Petrochemical plant in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province / Courtesy of Kumho Petrochemical

Kumho Petrochemical strives to further strengthen its footing in the global synthetic rubber market by nurturing competitiveness together with its subsidiaries.

To overcome uncertainties in oil price and foreign exchange rates, the world’s largest synthetic rubber maker plans to enhance its product and service quality to consolidate its leading position in the synthetic rubber market. Plus, it will conduct research on future growth engines to diversify business operations.

Kumho Petrochemical has put forth its utmost efforts in developing and delivering eco-friendly and energy-efficient synthetic rubber. The market is rapidly expanding since the Chinese government started evaluating tire efficiency last October.

The firm also plans to beef up its strategic partnerships with global tire producers to boost its presence as a leading supplier of ultra-high-performance tire and neodymium polybutadiene rubber (Nd-PBR) in China.

Kumho Petrochemical spent hundreds of billions of won to double its annual production capacity to 400,000 tons of Nd-PBR latex. To meet rising demand for the product in Southeast Asia, it set up an office in Kuala Lumpur last May with the aim of supporting its business operations in Southeast Asia.

Kumho Petrochemical’s major affiliates are also expected to carry out myriad operations to enhance competitiveness.

Kumho P&B Chemicals, Kumho’s phenol-making affiliate, is expected to start construction of its new R&D center in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, this year, to transfer its existing R&D lab in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, to the new facility by 2018.

Kumho Mitsui Chemicals unit is also set to complete its work on expanding its yearly production capacity for its main items of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) by 40 percent to 350,000 tons.

Kumho Petrochemical was founded in 1970 under Kumho Group’s chemical affiliate. It now leads the global market in the manufacture of synthetic rubber with the world’s highest production capacity for various high-value products.

The company faced a restructuring program under creditor supervision since its parent group entered a debt workout program in 2009.

At the end of 2012, Kumho Petrochemical ended the program successfully and got a high credit rating of “A” by Korea Investors Service.

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