Diversifying Raw Material Supply Sources
Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin will attend the ribbon cutting to mark the completion of Lotte Chemical’s ethane cracker plant in Louisiana on May 9 (local time).
The construction of the plant began in June 2016 and the commercial production at the plant is scheduled to start on May 9. A total of US$3.1 billion has been invested in the construction of the plant, which represents the second-largest investment ever mady by a South Korean company. Lotte Group owns 90 percent of the plant and Lotte Chemical has become the first Asian petrochemical company doing the shale gas ethane cracker business in North America.
At present, Lotte is making large-scale investments in multiple regions in order to diversify its raw material supply sources.
For example, the company began the construction of a petrochemical complex in Banten, Indonesia in December last year. The initiation of its commercial production is scheduled for 2023. Before attending the groundbreaking ceremony, the chairman visited Vietnam, looking around his company’s eco smart city construction site located in Ho Chi Minh City and meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.