Forum operates three subcommittees covering supply chain stabilization, ecosystem upgrading, and regional employment

Yang Ki-wook, director general for industrial resource security at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. [Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy]
Yang Ki-wook, director general for industrial resource security at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. [Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy]

The government has launched discussions aimed at restructuring the chemical industry and laying the groundwork for sustainable growth. A comprehensive support package for the chemical industry ecosystem is set to be announced in the second half of this year.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held an inaugural ceremony for the Chemical Industry Forum on Sunday at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, marking the start of deliberations on ways to strengthen the competitiveness of the country's chemical industry ecosystem.

The forum was established to address the compounding challenges facing South Korea's chemical sector — including a global supply glut and growing supply chain risks. It will operate through three subcommittees bringing together government officials, academics, industry representatives and researchers.

The first subcommittee will focus on supply chain stabilization, the second on upgrading the industry ecosystem by shifting toward high-value-added, eco-friendly and digital-oriented structures, and the third on supporting regional communities and employment stability during the restructuring process.

The ministry plans to identify policy tasks through subcommittee discussions and, after consulting with related ministries and local governments, finalize a comprehensive support package for the chemical industry ecosystem in the second half of this year.

The government has been pushing for business restructuring to ease the petrochemical sector's supply glut and accelerate the shift to higher-value products. It approved the first such project — between HD Hyundai Chemical and Lotte Chemical in Daesan — in February, and is currently reviewing a second project submitted in March involving YNCC and Lotte Chemical in Yeosu.

Jung Chan-hwa, co-chair of the Chemical Industry Forum, said the forum would operate in close coordination with the government "to ensure that discussions do not stop at talk but are actually carried through to implementation."

Yang Ki-wook, director general for industrial resource security at the ministry, said the forum "holds great significance as a starting point for the public and private sectors to jointly discuss the structural crisis facing the chemical industry and seek solutions," adding that he hoped the process would yield "effective policy alternatives that can be felt on the ground."


oskymoon@heraldcorp.com