Lanxess open to specialty chemical production, R&D in Korea

Hubert Fink, member of the board of management at Lanxess, speaks during a press conference at FKI Tower in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Lanxess

Lanxess, a German specialty chemicals company spun off from Bayer in 2005, did not rule out the possibility of establishing production and research facilities in Korea, which it regards as one of its most important markets, the company said Wednesday.

“I don’t want to exclude (the possibility),” Lanxess management board member Hubert Fink told Korean reporters during a press conference in Seoul celebrating the company’s 20th anniversary. “At a certain point in time, we will also have our R&D facilities and maybe also our production facilities here in Korea.”

Although Lanxess has supplied its specialty chemicals to Korean companies in various sectors ranging from semiconductors and batteries to construction, shipbuilding and cosmetics, it has so far operated only a local subsidiary employing around 40 people, most of whom handle sales.

Of its 11,800 employees across 32 countries, most in Asia work in China and Taiwan, where the company runs factories. Its Asia-Pacific headquarters is located in Shanghai.

“As of today, we are not producing in Korea, but we are working here with our customers,” Fink said. “That working together is related to developing solutions to drive our innovation forces globally.”

He declined to disclose the percentage, sales target or names of major customers in the Korean market, though he emphasized that Lanxess’ earnings in Korea have remained solid due to its partnerships with top-tier companies here.

Despite the oversupply of low-priced Chinese petrochemical products in the global market, Fink said Lanxess has managed to overcome the challenging environment by shifting its focus from commodity chemicals to specialty chemicals.

“Customer centricity is the major success factor,” he said. “Our capability of finding solutions in niches is a major success factor, and that is exactly the strategy over the last years to set up our company.”

After the press conference, the German firm hosted Lanxess Solutions Day Seoul to showcase its advanced chemical products to existing and potential customers.

“As Korea’s key industries have rapidly grown over the past 20 years, Lanxess has supported those changes through our portfolio transformation,” Lanxess Korea CEO Park Jun-sung said. “We will continue to work closely with our domestic customers and partners to create bigger value and support sustainable growth.”