Petrochemical Industry Restructuring
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy of South Korea decided to initiate restructuring with regard to oversupply petrochemical items such as terephthalic acid, polystyrene, butadiene rubber, styrene butadiene rubber and polyvinyl chloride.
In addition, it is going to work on functional and high value-added products to reduce dependence on such items in the industry.
“Our plan is to raise the ratio of functional and high value-added products, expand exports to niche markets such as Latin America and Africa and improve competitiveness in terms of raw materials by cooperation with oil-producing countries in the Middle East and overseas business expansion,” said Minister of Trade, Industry & Energy Joo Hyung-hwan.
The South Korean government is also planning to work on new ways of business to lead the fourth industrial revolution. For example, it is going to further enhance the production efficiency of the petrochemical sector by making use of O2O, big data, etc.
For the same purpose, it is to increase R&D investment in advanced chemistry and create new industrial sectors based on it so that 3D printers, self-driving cars, drones and the like can lead the fourth industrial revolution.