Korea Engineering Plastics
| Korea Engineering Plastics
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Limited |
| founding | 1987 |
| Seat | Seoul , South Korea |
| management | Caamano, John (President and CEO ) |
| Branch | Engineering plastics |
| Website | www.kepital.com |
Korea Engineering Plastics (KEP) is a leading South Korean manufacturer of polyoxymethylene (POM).
General
The company was founded in March 1987 as a joint venture of Tongyang Nylon Co., Ltd. founded in Korea and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company Inc. and Mitsubishi Corporation . KEP was the first producer of POM in Korea. In 1998 Hyosung Corp. took over short-term 50 percent of the shares in Tongyang Nylon Co. , which in turn were bought by Celanese AG in December 1999 . In 2019, KEP discontinued local sales in Europe, and in 2020 sales in the USA will cease. Celanese takes over the distribution in these regions with its locally available products. KEPITAL can now only be purchased directly in Korea or via the distribution network.
The company's headquarters have been in Seoul since 1987 . Production plants are located in Ulsan , Pyeongtaek (Korea) and Nantong (China). The company has locations in Europe , the USA and China .
KEP and its role in the polyoxymethylene market
The market leaders in the approx. 800 kt copolymer POM market are currently:
- Celanese (approx. 35%)
- Polyplastics (approx. 35%)
- KEP (approx. 12%)
- Mitsubishi (approx. 12%)
- BASF (approx. 5%)
The shareholders of KEP are each actively represented in this market with several subsidiaries: Mitsubishi Corporation with its subsidiary Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company Inc (Japan / Thailand) and its participation in KEP (South Korea), Celanese with its subsidiary Celanese Engineered Materials ( formerly Ticona) and the Asian holdings in Polyplastics (Japan) and KEP (South Korea).
Products
KEP sells polyoxymethylene (POM) under the brand name Kepital, polyamide (PA) as Kepamid and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) as Kepex.
Celanese sells polyoxymethylene (POM) under the brand name Hostaform.