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According to South Korean media, the South Korean government announced on February 25 that it would provide 2.1 trillion won (approximately 10 billion yuan) in financial and tax support for the restructuring projects of Lotte Chemical and HD Hyundai Chemical in the Daejeon Industrial Complex. This is the first restructuring project approved as part of South Korea’s large-scale self-rescue plan for the petrochemical industry. Under the restructuring plan, Lotte Chemical will spin off its Daecheon plant in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea, and merge it with HD Hyundai Chemical to form a new entity. As a self-help measure, the two companies will inject 600 billion won each into the new company. Lotte Chemical’s naphtha cracking unit located in Dasan will be shut down, with an ethylene production capacity of 1.1 million tons per year. Other facilities operated by the two companies that suffer from duplicate construction or losses will also be suspended from operation. The South Korean government will provide comprehensive support measures including financing, tax incentives, and regulatory approvals, the largest of which is a financial support plan worth 2 trillion won. Financial institutions will provide 1 trillion won in new loans to support corporate restructuring. In addition, existing loans of up to 1 trillion won will be converted into perpetual bonds. The South Korean government stated that it will accelerate the approval process for the consolidation of enterprises’ naphtha cracking operations, and support their R&D projects to help them shift to producing high-value-added and environmentally friendly products. In recent years, the South Korean petrochemical industry has faced a severe survival crisis as continuous capacity expansion has led to an oversupply and a sharp decline in profit margins. Last August, South Korea’s major petrochemical companies signed agreements regarding business restructuring, planning to reduce the capacity of their naphtha cracking units by up to 25%, resulting in an annual production capacity of 2.7 to 3.7 million tons.