GS Caltex Co., South Korea’s second-largest refiner, said Thursday that it has completed a polymer compound plant in eastern China that will help the company further tap into the world’s second-largest economy.

The plant, located in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, has begun commercial operations with an annual output of 37,000 tons of polymer compounds, the company said. Polymer compounds are functional plastics widely used for making cars and home appliances.

GS Caltex said that global manufacturing firms such as Samsung Electronics Co. and Haier Electronics Group Co. will be supplied with the plastic produced in the Chinese plant.

The company also has another polymer compound plant in China, set up in 2006, which produces 45,000 tons annually.

GS Caltex said that it aims to take up a combined 7 percent share of the fast-growing Chinese market for polymer compounds.

“The completion of the plant will help the company secure a foothold to become a global leader in the polymer compound market,” the company said in a statement.

The South Korean refiner started work on a 30,000-ton-capacity plant in Czech Republic earlier this year, expecting to complete it by September 2012. 

(Yonhap News)