Chemical Material SK Geo Centric, Weixing Chemical to Develop New Ethylene Acrylic Acid Facility in China

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Under a joint venture, SK Geo Centric and Weixing Chemical have plans to establish a new Ethylene Acrylic Acid (EAA) production facility in China in the background of growing demand in Asia. The project is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025 and begin commercial production with an annual capacity of 40,000 tons.

Seoul/Korea – SK Geo Centric plans to expand its business to Asia through its new production base in China after securing its plants in the U.S. and Europe to produce Ethylene Acrylic Acid (EAA), a high value-added chemical material.

SK Geo Centric announced on the 8th that it had signed the contract to establish a joint venture for EAA production with Weixing Chemical in China, and also signed an investment agreement with the Lianyungang Petrochemical Complex in Xuwei. SK Geo Centric and Weixing Chemical established a joint venture in a share ratio of 6:4, and will build an EAA manufacturing plant on a site of roughly 66,000 m2 (20,000 pyeong) in the petrochemical complex located in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, in China.

The plant is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2025 to start commercial production with an annual capacity of 40,000 tons. The signing ceremony of the joint venture contract and investment agreement was held at the Daluqiao International Conference Center Hotel in Lianyungang, China. Among the attendees were Na Kyung-soo, CEO of SK Geo Centric (attended via video conferencing); Ma Shi Guang, the Party Secretary of Lianyungang City; and Yang Wei Dong, President of Weixing Chemical.

Due to its high technological entry barriers, more than 80 % of the global supply of EAA is performed by three or four major global chemical companies, including SK Geo Centric. EAA is a type of high-functional bonding resin that bonds different substances such as metal and plastic, paper and plastic with a powerful adhesive performance.

Thanks to its superior durability, transparency, and bonding properties, EAA is becoming increasingly utilized in various industries, from sterilization packs and meat vacuum packaging to golf balls and tempered glass. It is used in electric vehicle battery electrodes and membranes because of expected stability improvement, and EAA is also used in vacuum packing of meat for longer storage thereby EAA’s demand is on the rise. In particular, it is attracting attention as an eco-friendly material that reduces the amount of plastic used and increases the recycling rate due to its excellent bonding performance and ease of separation, and is also expected to create demand for more diverse uses in the future.

Through the establishment of a joint venture with Weixing Chemical of China, SK Geo Centric has secured production facilities in Asia following the US and Europe, and plans to use them in various ways in the future, responding flexibly to global market demand. Starting with this first manufacturing plant in China, the company will meet the growing regional demand with additional expansion plans in the region according to the growth of related businesses.

“We will pre-empt the demand in China and Asia through the only EAA manufacturing plant in China,” said Na Kyung-soo, CEO of SK Geo Centric.

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