Kumho Petrochemical, a leading synthetic rubber producer in South Korea, approved an investment of 256 billion won ($225 million) to maintain its leadership in the global market for synthetic latex, which is primarily used in health care.
The company stated that aggressive investments are required to meet the rapidly increasing demand for nitrile butadiene latex.
Nitrile butadiene (NB) latex is resistant to oil and chemicals, making it useful in the manufacturing of protective equipment such as industrial gloves. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the demand for nitrile gloves.
The new facility will be built at Ulsan and is due to be completed by December 2023.
Kumho Petrochemical said the investment to increase the production of nitrile butadiene latex (NB latex) was approved at a board meeting on June 22.
“As the utilization and demand of NB latex is expected to increase, we will prepare for stable supply through preemptive expansion,” said CEO Baek Jong-hoon.
Kumho Petrochemical is to expand its NB latex production capacity to 710,000 tons by the end of 2021. The company will also add additional capacity of 240,000 tons to raise its total production capacity to 950,000 tons by the end of 2023. Additional investments would be considered after 2023.
Kumho’s new investment came three weeks after Taekwang Industrial agreed to set up an acrylonitrile joint venture with LG Chem. LG Chem aims to produce more than one million tons of NB latex by 2025.