FRANKFURT -- Celltrion, a South Korean pharmaceutical giant, is seeking to expand partnerships at this year’s Convention on Pharmaceutical Ingredients Worldwide, the company said Tuesday.

Taking place in major European cities each year, CPhI is one of the largest global pharma industry events in the world that gathers household names and experts. The German city of Frankfurt is holding this year’s event from Tuesday to Thursday.

According to Celltrion, the drug maker has set up an independent booth at the exhibition’s bio production zone for the first time to bolster business meetings with potential clients at CPhI.

Celltrion’s third plant, which is currently being constructed in Songdo, Incheon, is expected to be completed by November next year. The plant will add an additional production capacity of 60,000 liters to bring up the contract manufacturing organization company’s total capacity to 250,000 liters.

Celltrion, one of the leading companies in the global biosimilar monoclonal market, said it plans to consolidate its position in international supply chains as it looks to explore potential clients at this year’s CPhI.

“As our product pipelines have diversified and the production capacity has steadily increased, the importance of cooperation with partners and management of global supply chains continues to grow,” said a Celltrion official.

“We plan to strengthen our business capabilities by meeting with various companies that can create integrated synergy through cooperation and focus on understanding the global trends in the biopharmaceutical industry,” the official added.

By Kan Hyeong-woo (hwkan@heraldcorp.com), Korea Herald correspondent