NANTONG, China—South Korea's SKC is planning to set up polyurethane auto part facilities at its existing China site in Nantong the company said in a statement.
The project was approved by SKC's board in September with KRW $32 million investment earmarked. It's expected to start construction in January 2018 and come online in February 2019. Capacity of the facilities have yet to be disclosed.
According to SKC, the global market for polyurethane auto parts was valued at $1.02 billion in 2015, a highly concentrated sector with a few market leaders taking up the lion's share.
The company said it has developed the entire process from the synthesis of raw materials to production and has been supplying to global automakers.
SKC also plans to set up a wet chemicals joint venture with a $41.7 million investment and is mulling an auto glass film joint venture. Together those facilities will constitute its China business hub called the Second Specialty Complex.
"The Second Specialty Complex…will play a critical role in realizing SKC's new vision of global specialty marketer," SKC CEO Lee Wan-jae said in a statement. "The complex will serve as a bridgehead for SKC to ensure business scalability in the Chinese market."