Lanxess and Hankook Tires Sign Long Term Supply Contract

LANXESS’s Polybutadiene Rubber business unit and the South Korean tire manufacturer Hankook Tire have put their cooperation on a firm footing with the conclusion of a long-term supply contract. In the next five years LANXESS will supply solution SBR and polybutadiene rubber. It is planned to more than double the volume supplied within the next five years. The contract was signed in Dormagen on May 7, 2007 by Jeong Ho Park, General Manager of Global Raw Material Purchasing of Hankook Tire, and Dr. Joachim Grub, head of the Polybutadiene Rubber business unit.

Hankook Tire operates tire manufacturing facilities in South Korea and China and from the middle of 2007 in Hungary. The Polybutadiene Rubber business unit, which is the world’s biggest supplier of polybutadiene rubber, belongs to the Performance Rubber segment. This segment recorded sales of EUR 1.776 billion in fiscal 2006.