DALLAS, June 5 — Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE), a global specialty materials and chemical company, today announced a critical production network optimization step in support of the ‘Grow & Fortify’ strategy of its Engineered Materials business. Over the past several years, Celanese has taken significant measures to ensure reliability of supply by investing in world-class compounding assets globally and by working to provide its customers with engineered materials products of superior quality, performance and reliability.
Today’s network optimization announcement will result in the closure of the Company’s Engineered Materials compounding facility in Ulsan, South Korea. Celanese is planning to cease all manufacturing and production operations at the Ulsan facility immediately. The Company intends to fully support its customers to fulfill all contractual obligations and ensure a smooth transition of production and compounding activities to other Celanese manufacturing locations in the region.
The production volumes from the Ulsan facility will be transferred to the Company’s Nanjing and Shenzhen plants in China, and to its plant in Silvassa, India. Celanese is undertaking these actions to fortify the operating structure of its Engineered Materials business, while optimizing the company’s cost and manufacturing production footprint to leverage its world-class compounding assets in Shenzhen, Nanjing and Silvassa. These actions are also expected to strengthen the Company’s regional supply chain network.
Celanese products such as PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate), PA (Polyamide), PBT (Polybutylene Terephthalate) and HTN (High-Temperature Nylon) are critical to driving industry and regional growth. The broader Asia region represents opportunities for expansion, and Celanese is building manufacturing and compounding capabilities close to its customer base to better meet this growing demand.