South Korea’s second-largest paint maker Samhwa Paint Industrial Co. opened a new automated paint manufacturing plant in northern Vietnam at a cost of $6 million, the company announced on Monday.

The new plant is part of Samhwa Paints Vina Co., the Korean paint maker’s Vietnamese subsidiary. It opened up in Bac Ninh industrial zone, about one hour`s drive north of Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital. It is capable of manufacturing 6,500 tons of paints annually, improving productivity by more than 60 percent through automated system.

The new lines will churn out plastics coatings products - paints applied to plastic parts of electronics products such as smartphone peripheral devices and automobile’s internal and external parts - as well as pre-coated metal (PCM) coatings products for electronics and home appliance.

Established in 2010, Samhwa Paints Vina has led the Korean paint maker’s overseas business with its mainstay plastics coatings products. But its sales have waned over the past few years as global smartphone case market shifted from plastic cover to metal body. To combat the challenge, it last year decided to make a $6 million investment to add a new paint factory in Vietnam and diversify its product offerings.

The Korean paint maker also opened another Vietnamese subsidiary Samhwa-VH Co. near Ho Chi Minh City, the southern economic hub of Vietnam in August last year with an aim to expand shares in local paint market.

The company expects the industrial paint market in Vietnam to grow further as many Korean firms are heading to the Southeast Asian country, said Oh Jin-soo, Samhwa Paint Industrial chief executive.

Shares of Samhwa Paint Industrial closed at 7,650 won ($6.84), down 0.13 percent from the previous session in Seoul trading.

By Lee Young-wook and Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]