Thursday, September 02, 1999
P&G expands in S. Korea to supply products in Asia
BY RANDY TUCKER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Procter & Gamble said Wednesday that it will spend $400 million during the next eight years to expand production of paper products in South Korea.
The Cincinnati-based consumer goods company will double production at its tissue and napkin plant in Jochiwon, near Seoul, to about 140,000 tons annually by 2007.
The plant will become P&G's main manufacturing op eration in Asia as it expands into Japan, China and Hong Kong, as well as in South Korea, the company said.
Rapidly expanding into foreign markets, which now account for about half of P&G's worldwide sales, is a cornerstone of the company's Organization 2005 restructuring.
The move to increase production in South Korea is expected to help P&G reach its aggressive goals under Organization 2005 of 6 percent to 8 percent global sales growth in each of the next five years.
P&G has invested about $700 million in South Korea during the past 10 years. That includes the October 1997 takeover of Ssangyong Paper Co. from Ssangyong Group, South Korea's sixth-largest conglomerate.
P&G initially bought about 25 percent of the paper company for $69 million. It now owns more than 80 percent of Ssangyong Paper's stock — the first major takeover of a South Korean company by a foreign investor.
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