Lotte Chemical, Record Q1 Performance... "37 Billion Investment in Cellulose in H1"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Lotte Fine Chemical achieved its highest quarterly sales and operating profit in the first quarter as product prices rose due to increased raw material costs.

On the 27th, Lotte Fine Chemical announced that its provisional first-quarter sales and operating profit surged 89.7% and 210.7% year-on-year to 652.3 billion KRW and 110.3 billion KRW, respectively.

They explained that as the impact of COVID-19 diminished, demand from downstream industries increased, and supply disruptions caused by logistics congestion and raw material supply instability led to product price increases.

The Chemical Business Division recorded sales of 540.7 billion KRW, up 113.8% compared to the same period last year. This was due to the rise in international ammonia prices and the increase in international prices of chlorine-based caustic soda and ECH (epoxy resin raw material) products.

The Green Materials Business Division posted sales of 111.7 billion KRW, a 22.6% increase from the previous year. This was influenced by price increases due to raw material cost hikes and expanded sales volume following last year's expansion of the cellulose-based Mescelose (cement additive) and Anycoat (pharmaceutical capsule raw material) plants.

Lotte Fine Chemical plans to invest 37 billion KRW by the first half of the year to expand the cellulose-based food and pharmaceutical production line. This is a proactive response to the growing consumer trend of increased interest in health and carbon reduction, targeting the upstream market for food and pharmaceutical products such as plant-based pharmaceutical capsules and alternative meat demand.

A Lotte Fine Chemical official stated, "To ensure sustainable growth, we will strive to secure future growth engines considering ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management, including discovering opportunities in clean hydrogen and ammonia businesses and developing materials for alternative meat."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.