● Company’s 10th global system house in Mexico secures a bridgehead for expansion in Central and South America.

● 2020 sales to reach 2 trillion won with the system house in Mexico further expanding the company’s global network.

Mitsui Chemicals & SKC Polyurethanes Inc.(MCNS), a joint venture of SKC(CEO Lee Wan Jae) and Mitsui Chemicals(President & CEO: Tsutomu Tannowa), held a ceremony to celebrate the opening of its new polyurethane system house in Monterrey in the Mexican state of Nuevo León on April 29, 2016. The ceremony was attended by more than 100 guests including Shin Won Choi, Chairman of SK Networks, Wan Jae Lee, CEO of SKC, Samuel Pena Guzman, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Nuevo León, Gonzalo Elizondo Lira, mayor of Salinas Victoria, Kook Bo Yang, Chief Director General of the Central and South America Office of KOTRA, and Ki Don Won and Shingo Shibata, Co-CEOs of MCNS. The factory in Mexico is now capable of commercially producing 20,000 tons of polyurethane system products annually only nine months after its construction began in June 2015. The system house manufactures customized polyurethane materials such as MDI and Polyols mixed with additives.

10th Global System House to Accelerate Market Expansion in Mexico, with Technological Advantage

MCNS, launched in July 2015 and jointly owned by SKC and Mitsui Chemicals, each of which holds a 50% stake in the venture, has an annual production capacity of 720,000 tons (including Polyol) and operates fifteen production sites in nine countries with annual sales of 1.5 billion dollars and combined assets worth 1.1 billion dollars. The construction of the factory in Mexico brings the number of global system houses to ten, excluding those in Korea and Japan. Mexico is rapidly emerging as a global automobile production center where Korean and Japanese car makers as well as other global automobile companies have established a presence. As a result, the country is now the world’s seventh largest automobile-manufacturing hub, producing four million vehicles per year. MCNS plans to quickly increase its market share by taking advantage of its superior quality and technology.


MCNS to Reach 2 Trillion Won in Sales amid Accelerating Global Expansion

“The system house in Mexico will expand our polyurethane business in Central and South America as well as heightening our presence in Asia, Europe and the U.S. We will continue to increase our overseas investments and grow into a global polyurethane manufacturer with a sales target of over 2 trillion won by 2020”, said Ki Don Won, Co-CEO of MCNS. MCNS plans to establish two additional system houses in Gujarat and Chennai, situated in the northwest and southeast of India, respectively. The joint venture is planning to establish corporations within this year in a move to meet the growing demand from Korean and Japanese car and appliance makers. Furthermore, MCNS is also planning to set up more polyurethane system houses in Iran, Russia and a number of other countries with high growth potential and to ultimately double the number of its production centers (currently ten) by 2020, to become a global polyurethane maker.


[The End]

[Photos] 

Grand opening ceremony of MCNS’s Mexico system house 

(Tape-cutting ceremony)

From left(excluding the woman), Ki Don Won, MCNS Co-CEO(4th), Shingo Shibata, MCNS Co-CEO(5th), Samuel Pena Guzman, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Nuevo León(6th), Shin Won Choi, chairman of SK Networks(7th), Gonzalo Elizondo Lira, mayor of Salinas Victoria(8th) and Wan Jae Lee, president & CEO of SKC(9th).

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