Democratic Party Euljiro Committee: "Petrochemical Firms to Reduce Price Hikes, Cooperate on Domestic Priority Supply"

On April 14, the Euljiro Committee of the Democratic Party signed a "Win-Win Agreement between the Petrochemical and Plastics Industries" to alleviate the burden on small and medium-sized plastic manufacturing companies facing difficulties due to instability in the supply of raw materials such as synthetic resins following the Middle East war.

Through this agreement, major petrochemical companies agreed to cooperate on the following measures to help address the challenges faced by small and medium-sized plastic processing firms: reviewing a partial reduction of price increases notified in March and after April; discussing a price determination system with lower volatility in the event of a supply crisis; and cooperating to prioritize the domestic supply of synthetic resins.

At the win-win agreement ceremony for the petrochemical-plastics industry held at the National Assembly on the 14th, hosted by the Euljiro Committee of the Democratic Party, Byungdo Han, floor leader of the Democratic Party, is giving a speech. Photo by Yonhap News

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Byungdo Han, floor leader of the Democratic Party, stated, "We are putting into writing the principle of sharing the burden together, rather than having one side bear it unilaterally," and emphasized, "The Democratic Party will ensure that this agreement does not remain a mere declaration. Together with the Fair Trade Commission, we will strictly crack down on hoarding and unfair trading practices."

Min Byungdeok, Democratic Party lawmaker and chair of the Euljiro Committee, said, "Last week, we achieved two major milestones through win-win agreements between gas stations and refiners, as well as between small and medium-sized plastic manufacturers and large corporate consumers. Today, we are putting the final piece in place to firmly tie the win-win partnership together."

The win-win agreement ceremony, held that morning at the National Assembly, was attended by Democratic Party floor leader Byungdo Han, Euljiro Committee chair Min Byungdeok, responsible lawmakers Hyangyup Kwon, Namgeun Kim, Kangil Lee, Jaebong Song, Heeseung Park, and Dogeol Ahn, as well as officials from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Fair Trade Commission.

As parties to the agreement representing the plastic processing industry, the Korea Federation of Plastic Industry Cooperatives, the Korea Plastic Packaging Container Association, and the Korea Federation of SMEs participated. On the side of major petrochemical companies, LG Chem, Hanwha Solutions, Lotte Chemical, SK Geocentric, GS Caltex, and S-OIL took part.

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