Tuesday, April 30th, 2013
SEOUL, KOREA - Korea Kumho Petrochemical has begun to strengthen its forays into Turkey. The company said on April 28 it would beef up its effort to enter the Turkish market as it figures its exports would rise 130 percent from the previous year once the Korea-Turkey free trade agreement takes effect from May 1.
Currently Kumho Petrochemical is selling synthetic resins including polystyrene, ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) resin, expanded polystyrene, and polypropylene glycol in Turkey. Last year's total export amount to the country was about 100 billion won, accounting for 3.3 percent of Kumho Petrochemical's total overseas sales.
Once the 6.5-percent import duties are abolished after the FTA takes effect, the company expects the export volume to rise dramatically. Especially in the area of polystyrene, Turkey's annual demand is in excess of 500 billion won, the largest market in Europe and the Middle East. To achieve its goal of raising the polystyrene export amount by more than 30 percent, the company has worked hard to court Turkish customers including Petlas Tyres.
Earlier in the month, Park Chan-gu, chairman of Kumho Petrochemical, visited several customer firms in Turkey while developing new business relationships there.
