November 24, 2024

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Lotte Group CEO Shin Dong-bin (seventh from left), Phan Van Mai (sixth from left), chairman of Ho Chi Minh People’s Committee, and other officials participate at the groundbreaking ceremony of Thu Tiem Eco Smart City in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Sept. 2. (Lotte Group)

South Korean retail-to-chemical giant Lotte Group said Thursday its overseas investment has exceeded 7 trillion won ($4.9 billion) this year.

So far, the largest overseas project is Lotte Chemical’s Line Project, a $3.9 billion megasized petrochemicals production complex in Banten, Indonesia. It aims to produce 1 million metric tons of ethylene, 520,000 tons of propylene, 250,000 tons of polypropylene and other petrochemical products by 2025.

The chemicals unit also plans to build its first naphtha cracking center, a plant with facilities for cracking naphtha to produce petrochemical feedstock, in Indonesia in a way to help to country nurture its own petrochemical industry. Currently, Indonesia imports around 50 percent of petrochemical products from overseas.

Lotte also set out the Thu Tiem Eco Smart City project that will build an eco-friendly smart city complex and a smart logistics center in Vietnam, as part of its plans to expand its foothold in Southeast Asia.

As part of the $900 million project, the company plans to construct a 60-story building, with another five floors underground, comprising a shopping mall, a cinema, offices, a hotel, residences and apartments in Ho Chi Minh City.

Next year, the retail giant plans to open Lotte Mall Hanoi, following the investment of some 330 billion won.

Lotte Group’s affiliates, Lotte Chemical and Lotte Aluminum, are heading to the US and Europe to take an earlier edge in the materials market for electric vehicle batteries.

The two injected a total of 330 billion won to build an anode foil production base, called Lotte Aluminum Materials USA, in Kentucky by 2025. The plant will work closely with Korean battery makers that are increasingly teaming up with local carmakers in the fast-growing electric vehicles market there.

Lotte Aluminum also plans to pour some additional 110 billion won into the anode foil plant based in Tatabanya, Hungary, to double its production output.

In the meantime, Lotte plans to invest a total of 37 trillion won at home over the next five years on key growth drivers such as health, mobility and sustainability, as well as its existing core business areas.

By Byun Hye-jin (hyejin2@heraldcorp.com)