Hyosung to Enlarge Propylene Plant with Investment of 280 B. Won

Hyosung Corp., a Korean maker of textiles and heavy machinery, announced on December 17 that it held a groundbreaking ceremony and started to enlarge its propylene plant to produce an additional 300,000 tons in 27,000 m2 of land at its first factory in Ulsan. The plant will be finished by May 2015 with an investment of 280 billion won.

The decision for enlargement was based on the Korean company’s prediction that if the development of shale gas is accelerated in the US, the prices of propane, a raw material for propylene, will go down, and thus it will be more profitable to produce propylene. Currently, the firm is extracting propylene from propane gas, not naphtha.

Following the construction, 500,000 tons of propylene are expected in total, because of the plant’s additional production capacity of 300,000 tons. Therefore, Hyosung anticipates that it will sharpen its competitive advantage in the propylene market because of low cost, high skill, and good quality.