Daewoo International Corporation, a subsidiary of Korean steelmaker POSCO, issued a press release claiming that it clinched a 200-million-dollar purified terephthalic acid (PTA) supply deal with Thailand-based Indorama Ventures. The deal, however, has turned out to be nonexistent.
POSCO's trading subsidiary Daewoo International said on September 2, “We signed a 200 million-dollar MoU on the supply of PTA chips with Indorama Ventures in Bangkok. We expect that PTA chips worth US$ 200 million will be supplied to Indorama Ventures starting from 2016.”
However, it has turned out that the two companies had signed no MoU whatsoever.
Last month, Business Korea,a local English-language news outlet, covered the story of Daewoo International signing an MoU with Indorama Ventures based on the press release issued by Daewoo International. When the news outlet reached out to Indorama Ventures for additional information a few days later, the company sent email saying that no deal had been made between the two.
The news outlet quoted an Indorama Ventures official as saying that “Daewoo International CEO Kim Young-sang and other high-ranking officials recently visited us. Right after we had a meeting, they asked us to pose for a group photo, so we took a picture together. Then came press reports saying that we signed an MoU with Daewoo International. It is ridiculous. We are very upset.”
"Indorama Ventures has no commitment, obligation or understanding with Daewoo International as on date for sale or purchase of any PTA during the year 2016," the official told the news outlet.
“We signed a minutes of the meeting between Daewoo and Indorama Ventures, which basically talks about willingness to enhance the cooperation between our companies in the future, without any commitment or obligation whatsoever being agreed upon,” the official stressed.
