Kumho Petrochemical, one of the largest synthetic latex producers worldwide, plans to invest 256 billion won ($225 million) in its Nitrile butadiene (NB) latex.
With strong global demand for industrial gloves, in particular, nitrile gloves, the company is planning to expand its presence in nitrile butadiene latex. NB latex is resistant to chemicals, and oil, and accordingly, it is widely used in the manufacture of industrial gloves.
Kumho Petrochemical plans to increase its NB latex capacity to 710 thousand tons by 2021. Further, future plans of adding an additional 240 thousand tons to increase overall capacity to 950 thousand tons by end of 2023 are announced by the company.
Comparatively, LG Chem announced plans to produce over 1,000,000 million tons of Nitrile Butadiene latex by 2025.