Ready for Full-scaled Production
Daesang Corp. announced on June 8 that the company held a ceremony in honor of the completion of an astaxathin plant at Gunsan Bio Plant with Jeong Hong-Eun, president of Daesang Corp. and Takahide Kasai, president of JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy.
The ceremony is quite meaningful in that the company will begin production on a full scale after the successful completion of facility investment and a test run of the plant. Daesang Corp. signed an astaxathin supply contact with JXTG NOE in March last year.
Daesang Corp. is planning to supply astaxathin, which is used as a fish feed coloring agent and an ingredient for health functional food to JXTG NOE, the largest energy and refining company in Japan. The initial contract amount is expected to reach 30 billion won (US$27 million) and sales are expected to swell further as demand increases.
Astaxathin is a powerful antioxidant that is 550 times more potent than vitamin E, and is mainly used as a coloring agent for aquaculture feed for salmons, trout, and shrimps. Besides, Astaxathin is used as a health functional food ingredient to prevent the failing of eyesight, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and heart diseases due to aging, and prevent skin damage by ultraviolet rays.
"Daesang Corp. started commercial production of astaxathin in earnest for the first time in Korea in about one year since concluding a supply agreement as its excellent fermentation production facility and manufacturing technology were recognized last year,” said Jeong Hong-Eun, president of Daesang Corp. "We will stably supply astaxathin of excellent quality based on our 60 years’ know-how in fermentation and JXTG NOE's astaxathin manufacturing know-how."