Jeollanamdo Europe Office

Representative Office of Jeollanamdo Provincial Government of South Korea

Month: April 2021

Major chemical producers to expand production in Jeollanamdo

Posted by on in 2021, Chemistry, Electric Vehicles, Investment, TechnologyLeave a comment

Several global players in the chemistry industry have announced to expand the production in their factories in Jeollanamdo. Among them were Korea’s biggest chemical producer LG Chem, as well as Hanwha Corp. and the Korean-Japanese joint venture Kumho Mitsui Chemicals.

Kumho Mitsui Chemicals is a joint venture between Japanese Mitsui Chemicals and Korean Kumho Petrochemical which was formed in 1989. The company announced to add another production facility to its already existing facilitiy in Yeosu, Jeollanamdo. This expansion will increase Kumho Mitsui Chemicals production of polyurethane from 410,000 tons up to 610,000 tons. The additional facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, aiming to start production in early 2024. The expansion is part of Kumho Mitsui Chemical’s vow to contribute to the global fight against global warming. Polyurethane is used in many parts such as the automobile industry and housing sector where it is used as thermal insulation material with a high insulation efficiency.

Hanwha Corp. is another major Korean chemical cooperation which has announced to increase its production capacities in Yeosu Industry Complex, Jeollanamdo. The goal is to build another nitric acid plant in Yeosu in order to four-fold the already existing production capacities, from 120,000 tons up to 520,000 tons. Nitric-acid is used for producing semiconductor and display cleaning solutions. Another part of the production capacity will be used to produce dinitrotoluene, a raw material to produce polyurethane. Hanwha aims to finish the construction of the plant by 2023.

Unlike Kumho Mitsui Chemicals and Hanwha Corp., LG Chem has already finished the construction of an additional facility in order to increase the drastically growing demand for carbon nanotubes. The additional facility will increase the output by 1,200 metric tons from originally 500 tons to now 1,700 tons. Carbon nanotubes are a raw material used in the production of electric vehicle batteries.

The continuous increase in investment in Jeollanamdo proves that Jeollanamdo is taking a leading role in South Korea’s fight against global warming and in the search for eco-friendly solutions in industrial productions. Just last month Korea’s steel giant POSCO has announced similar plans to increase its production capacities in Jeollanamdo and to build Korea’s first ever lithium extraction factory.

The Kitchen of Korea gaining popularity in the US online-market

Posted by on in 2021, Agriculture, Export, The Kitchen of KoreaLeave a comment

Jeollanamdo’s Amazon Brand Store The Kitchen of Korea has established itself as a popular online store in the US online market. On April 19 the local government announced during an export ceremony that it has already sent its 10th container within 9 month, marking another mile stone since the opening of the specialty brand store The Kitchen of Korea on Amazon US.

The latest container contains 29 agricultural and fishery products from 14 companies from all over Jeollanamdo. In the Jeollanamdo Brand Store red pepper paste, organic shiitake, plum, pear, and citron juice, along with seaweed, abalone and seafood snacks are gaining huge popularity. 

Along with those popular products five new products are shipped for the first time to be newly introduced to the U.S. market, after reviewing the marketability and competitiveness of the products.

As popularity of the brand store The Kitchen of Korea is continuously rising in the US, Jeollanamdo is also focusing on other regions to open similar brand stores, firstly in the European Union.

The Kitchen of Korea

Jeollanamdo is also planing to open Amazon brand stores in the EU by mid 2021. A list of available products and further information on The Kitchen of Korea can be found here.

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Moreover, the provincial government is eager to expand its product range in the online market, to establish The Kitchen of Korea further as a distinguished K-FOOD market with high quality organic products. The government keeps looking for more local companies that are willing to export their products to make a wide range of Jeollanamdo’s products available throughout the world.

“If local companies meet Amazon’s food export and sales standards, there will be more opportunities to export them to the U.S. as well as other countries,” said Lee Sang-jin, international cooperation official of Jeollanamdo Provincial Government. “We plan to continue to find small, competitive agricultural and fishery companies and expand their presence on Amazon.”

Korea’s first lithium extraction factory to be build in Jeollanamdo

Posted by on in 2021, Chemistry, e-Mobility, Electric Vehicles, TechnologyLeave a comment

South Korea’s steel giant POSCO plans to build Korea’s first ever lithium-hydroxide extraction factory in Gwangyang, Jeollanamdo. Lithium-hydroxide (LiOH) is one of the most important components when building battery cathodes for electric vehicles. With the rising demand for batteries because of a rapidly growing EV-market POSCO wants to prepare for the future, in accordance to its own expansions in the EV-production business.
As the lithium price is rising continuously due to the rapid increase in EV-production, South Korea aims to be less reliant on importing Lithium from the global market. So far Korea had to import its lithium from South America, the US and China.

The factory is going to be a joint investment by POSCO and the Australian lithium producer Pilbara Minerals.
Construction of the plant will already start in mid 2021 and the factory will be finished by 2023. By then the new lithium factory will produce around 43,000 tons of lithium per year. With this amount POSCO can directly and locally supply the lithium for up to 1,000,000 electric vehicles batteries. Building on this, POSCO is already planning to further expand the extraction of lithium so that by the end of 2030 over 220,000 tons of lithium can be directly extracted at Jeollanamdo.

Gwangyang in Jeollanamdo was the logical choice for POSCO as it has already been running a demo-factory in Gwangyang and is operating additional factories in the Gwangyang Bay Area. Just earlier this year in February POSCO Chemical has announced the 4th expansion of its battery cathode plant in Gwangyang. Therefore the extracted lithium can be directly processed at Gwangyang.

As one of the most important locations in EV production and research, Jeollanamdo is also hosting the yearly Yeonggwang e-Mobility EXPO in Yeonggwang. For further information click here.