Chemical Firms to improve their profitability in the worldwide financial slowdown

Market watchers said Sunday that South Korea’s main chemical companies are bulking up by incorporating their sophisticated material-producing subsidiaries in a bid to improve their profitability in the worldwide financial slowdown. Three chemical companies have announced in recent months that they will absorb their wholly-owned subsidiaries to streamline their chemical companies. SK Chemicals Co. reported last week that it will absorb Initz Co., a subsidiary that produces polyphenylene sulphide, an engineering plastic used in automotive parts manufacturing. Lotte Chemical Corp., the No. 2 chemical company in South Korea, announced last month its merger with Lotte Advanced Materials Co. focusing on the business of speciality chemicals. The merger, to be finished by January 2, 2020, will increase its annual manufacturing ability of polycarbonate to 460,000 tonnes, the world’s third-largest output. In July, Hanwha Chemical Corp., No. 3 competitor in the nation, said it would acquire Hanwha Q Cells & Advanced Materials Corp., a company that creates lightweight plastics for solar energy systems and electronics.