Taekwang Industrial Co., a South Korean chemical fiber company, said Wednesday
that it will begin the country's first commercial production of carbon fiber
this week.
The carbon fiber facility in the industrial city of Ulsan,
about 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, will begin operations Friday, the
company said. It has an annual capacity of 1,500 tons of polyacrylonitrile
(PAN)-based carbon fiber and 3,000 tons of precursors, key materials for the
production of carbon fiber.
"We have successfully carried out a test
run of the facility. We will first target the domestic market and make inroads
into overseas markets as well," a company official said.
Taekwang will
step up efforts to secure market share by turning out high-quality products and
implementing various marketing strategies, he added.
The company
developed the PAN-based carbon fiber in 2009 independently and finished the
construction of the production facility last year.
South Korea
currently relies on imports for carbon fiber, a state-of-the-art material which
is 10 times stronger than steel but only 20 percent of its weight. It is used by
various industries, such as for making aircraft, sports equipment, and
ships.
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