● SKC sets up a bridgehead for business expansion in India, which boasts of the world’s seventh highest GDP, after holding a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the India System House on 8th, 2018

● SKC makes more effort to become a leading global polyurethane manufacturer by entering the Indian market after Mexico

MCNS, the joint venture of Mitsui Chemicals (CEO Tsutomu Tannowa) and SKC (CEO Lee Wanjae), is set to tap into the Indian polyurethane market.

From a beachhead market with many Korean and Japanese customers to Indian customers

MCNS held a ceremony in the industrial complex of Sri City in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh to celebrate the completion of construction of a system house. The event was attended by more than 120 people including Won Gidon, Chief Operating Officer&President of Chemical Biz. Division
, Mitsui Chemicals General Manager Tadami Yoshino, Joint Representatives Lim Uijun and Shingo Shibata, and Sri City Managing Director Ravindra Sannareddy.

A system house is a production _ base_ for the manufacture of customized polyurethane (system polyol) made of a mixture of additives including polyol and isocyanate. In February 2017, MCNS decided to enter the Indian polyurethane market because of its high growth potential and began the construction of a system house in March of the same year. The system house has annual production capacity of about 15,000 tons.

India boasts of the seventh largest GDP in the world; it is home to a population of over 1.3 billion who form a large domestic market with massive potential for growth. The country is also the fifth largest producer of cars with annual production capacity of over 4.7 million, and automobiles use a lot of polyurethane. In addition, India produces around 9 million refrigerators a year, and the insulation for refrigerators is made of polyurethane.

Andhra Pradesh is near Chennai, where many Korean and Japanese automobile and home appliance manufacturers have production facilities. Japanese and Korean manufacturers account for 70% of the total automobile production and 50% of refrigerator production. MCNS plans to supply high-quality products to Korean and Japanese customers, and then to Indian customers over time.

MCNS continues to invest in system house expansion in order to speed up its global business growth

​With the completion of the new system house in India, MCNS now has a total of 11 system houses all over the world. “With our new system house in India as _ base_, we will expand our polyurethane business in India and South Asian region. At the same time, we will continue to build more system houses in other countries with high potential for growth so that we can eventually become a global leader in polyurethane," said Lim Uijun, co-representative of MCNS.

Established in 2015, MCNS is a joint venture company wherein SKC and Mitsui Chemicals have a fifty percent share. The company was set up by spinning off their polyurethane divisions. MCNS currently has 17 production _ base_s in 10 different countries, with annual production capacity of 750,000 tons and total annual sales of approximately KRW 1.2 trillion. [End]