EANS-News: WACKER Opens New Dispersions Plant in South Korea

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Subtitle: - Production capacity increased to 90,000 metric tons per
year, almost doubling total capacity in South Korea - Investment
spending totals some €10 million - President and CEO Rudolf Staudigl:
“The expansion is essential if we are to continue meeting our
customers’ high demand for dispersions over the coming years.”

Company Information

Munich / Seoul (euro adhoc) - February 6, 2013 - Today, Wacker Chemie
AG officially launched its new production plant for vinyl
acetate-ethylene copolymer (VAE) dispersions at its Ulsan site in
South Korea. The additional 40,000 metric tons from the second
reactor line increases the site's VAE-dispersion capacity to a total
of 90,000 tons per year. The production capacity of the site has
thus almost doubled, making the plant complex one of the biggest of
its kind in South Korea. The expansion is WACKER's response to the
rising demand for high-quality VAE dispersions, especially in
Southeast Asia's emerging markets. The project goal is to ensure
sufficient capacities of VINNAPAS® VAE dispersions now and in the
years ahead. As a result, WACKER will be able to offer its customers
in the region consistently high product quality and supply security
over the long term. Having invested around EUR10 million in the
expansion project, WACKER is strengthening its position as one of the
world's major suppliers of VAE dispersions.

President and CEO Rudolf Staudigl emphasized the strategic importance
of the new reactor line for Asian markets: "The expansion of our
plant here in Ulsan is a key step in our global growth strategy," he
said. "The demand for top-quality VAE dispersions is continuously
rising in Southeast Asia, especially for those used in formulating
low-emission, eco-friendly products. The additional capacity will
enable us to continue reliably meeting our customers' high demand
over the coming years, thus securing our leading global position in
VAE dis-persions."

During his speech at the opening ceremony, Han-Hyung Cho, head of
Wacker Chemicals Korea, thanked all employees for their tremendous
efforts. He believes that their contribution was essential to WACKER
implementing this key strategic project in record time - in just one
year. "Our cost and quality leadership coupled with our comprehensive
local service is the secret of VINNAPAS® dispersions' success. The
new reactor line now enables us to cater even better to the specific
needs of our customers in the region, allowing us to offer them
substantial added value over the long term," emphasized Cho.

Under its VINNAPAS® trademark, WACKER already produces vinyl
acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersions at Ulsan for use as binders in
the adhesives industry. The second reactor line's additional capacity
is particularly aimed at reliably meeting the strong growth in the
paints and coatings sector, as well as in construction, paper, carpet
and nonwovens applications. WACKER already started expanding the VAE
capacity of its Nanjing site in China by 60,000 tons per year in
spring 2012. This is set for completion by mid-2013. With the
expansions in both South Korea and China, the company is doubling its
VAE capacity in the region.

With over 50 years' experience in the development and production of
vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersions, WACKER is a global
technology and market leader in this field. VINNAPAS® dispersions are
popular binders in the construction, paints, coatings and adhesives
industries. The dispersions find application, for instance, in the
formulation of low-odor and low-emission indoor paints, but also in
plasters, technical textiles and nonwovens, carpet adhesives and as
binders in polymer materials based on renewable resources.

WACKER in South Korea WACKER has been supplying chemicals to South
Korea since the mid-1980s. In 1996, it set up Wacker Chemicals Korea
as its subsidiary there. Since early 2008, WACKER's site in Ulsan
(southeastern Korea) has been producing VAE dispersions and providing
local support to customers and partners through its technical center
for research and applications engineering. In 2010, WACKER acquired
the South Korean Lucky-Silicone brand - used mainly for producing and
marketing silicone sealants for the construction sector. In early
2012, WACKER completed the expansion and relocation of its technical
labs and offices to a new regional competence center center in Pangyo
Techno-Valley, near South Korea's capital Seoul. The competence
center brings together R&D activities, applications technology and
the WACKER ACADEMY, a training facility that focuses on silicone and
polymer applications.

Further inquiry note:
Nadine Baumgartl
Media Relations & Information
Tel.: +49 (0)89 6279 1604
E-Mail: nadine.baumgartl@wacker.com

end of announcement euro adhoc
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company: Wacker Chemie AG
Hanns-Seidel-Platz 4
D-81737 München
phone: +49 (0) 89 6279 01
FAX: +49 (0) 89 6279 1770
mail: info@wacker.com
WWW: http://www.wacker.com
sector: Chemicals
ISIN: DE000WCH8881
indexes: MDAX, CDAX, Prime All Share
stockmarkets: free trade: Hannover, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart,
regulated dealing: Berlin, regulated dealing/prime standard:
Frankfurt
language: English