This photo taken June 12, 2024, and provided by GS Caltex Corp. shows Kwon Young-woon (L), head of GS Caltex’s R&D Center, and Summit Cosmetics Corp. President and CEO Koh Akiyama posing for a photo after signing a memorandum of understanding for partnership in the sale of cosmetics ingredient 2,3-Butanediol at the Japanese firm’s headquarters in Tokyo. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jun. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — GS Caltex Corp., South Korea’s second-biggest refiner by sales, said Thursday it has signed an initial pact to supply a cosmetics ingredient to a Japanese company in its business diversification strategy.
GS Caltex has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Summit Cosmetics Corp. to provide 2,3-Butanediol under the brand of GreenDiol to the cosmetics materials affiliate of Japanese trading firm Sumitomo Corp., the company said in a statement.
The 2,3-Butanediol is a natural, eco-friendly substance found anywhere in natural surroundings, including living organisms and fermented food. It can be used in manufacturing moisturizer and eco-friendly cosmetics products, it said.
“We expect the MOU (with Summit Cosmetics) will help increase the sale of GreenDiol products as Summit Cosmetics has global sales networks in the United States, Europe and Latin America,” a company spokesperson said over the phone.
GS Caltex said it has provided the 2,3-Butanediol to a number of cosmetics firms in South Korea, the U.S., Europe and other markets since 2019.
The company produces 300 tons of bio-based 2,3-Butanediol annually in its domestic plant in Gunsan, 178 kilometers south of Seoul, by utilizing sugar derived from cassava and sugarcane.
In the first quarter ended in March, GS Caltex’s operating profit rose 36 percent to 416.56 billion won (US$304 million) from 306.83 billion won on robust refining margins.
(Yonhap)
