Lotte Chemical held on August 24 a completion ceremony of a butadiene rubber plant in Johor Bahru, a city located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula adjacent to Singapore.
Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin was present at the ceremony and said, "This is a meaningful milestone for Lotte after moving into the Malaysian market for the first time in 2010. In addition to business activity, we will also work hard in fulfilling corporate social responsibility to create a partnership model for both Malaysia and Korea."
The official name for the butadiene rubber plant is Lotte Ube Synthetic Rubber as it is a joint venture established in 2012 by Lotte Chemical, Lotte Chemical Titan (Lotte Chemical's subsidiary), Japan's Ube Industries, and Mitsubishi Corp. Its annual production capacity is 50,000 tons, with a plan to expand to 72,000 tons by 2017. It was reported that the total cost for the plant was US$130 million.
Butadiene rubber is a synthetic rubber with properties of high heat and wear resistance, used mainly for tires and high-impact polystyrene. Lotte Group has moved into the butadiene rubber business for the first time since founding. The group is currently working with Italy's Versalis in the specialty rubber area.
At the ceremony, Lotte Chemical president Huh Soo-young, Ube Industries group CEO Michio Takeshita, and Mitsubishi Corp. chemicals group CEO Takahisa Miyauchi, as well as Lotte Group chairman Shin, were in attendance.
