SK Group plans to increase presence in China

SK Group plans to expand its businesses into China with an agreement between President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation.
Korea is the second-largest investor in China after the U.S., with Korean firms and organizations spending US$3.3 billion last year for businesses and projects, according to the Export-Import Bank of Korea.
Korean companies have now set their eyes on western China, an underdeveloped part of the country laden with enormous growth opportunities.
SK Group is leading the way. It has been 22 years since the group first launched its business in China.
In 2005, Xi visited Korea as then-Communist Party chief for Zhejiang Province to discuss business projects with Korean firms. He met with Korean businesspeople, among whom was SK Chairman Chey Tae-won.
This long and close relationship led to a June 28, 2013, deal between SK Global Chemical and the state-run Chinese National Petrochemical Corp. to establish a joint venture for the commercial operation of a naphtha-cracking center in Wuhan, Hubei Province. It was the largest deal in the sector between the two countries.
The 3.3 trillion won (US$2.68 billion) center has an annual capacity of 2.5 million tons of petrochemicals including ethylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride. It is expected to commence operations in the latter half of this year.
Besides the deal, SK Group has operated in China in various fields including energy, semiconductors and electric vehicle batteries, with some 12,000 employees.
Korean companies are also paying attention to China’s domestic consumption, since the country has a population of 1.3 billion.
(June 30, 2013)