乐天化学一季度净借款三个月增加逾1.2万亿韩元，信用与融资压力加重

Lotte Chemical (011170.KS) is facing deepening distress from a growing debt pile despite years of intensive restructuring. Its core petrochemical business has posted losses for a fourth consecutive year amid a prolonged downturn, while interest costs on financial debt have risen sharply as funding conditions deteriorate. Lotte Chemical is accelerating efforts to improve its fundamentals by simultaneously restructuring its petrochemical business and investing in new ventures. The industry and financial markets alike are closely watching whether the company can break the vicious financial cycle and lay the groundwork for a comeback.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 21st, Lotte Chemical's net borrowings stood at 7.919 trillion won as of the first quarter of this year. Considering that net borrowings were about 6.7046 trillion won at the end of last year, the debt swelled by more than 1.2 trillion won in just three months. Over the same period, net borrowings as a share of total equity also rose from 38% to 43%.
As its financial structure deteriorates, funding conditions are also becoming more difficult. After issuing 400 billion won of bank-guaranteed bonds in April to repay debt, Lotte Chemical plans to raise an additional 200 billion won through bank-guaranteed bonds on the 23rd. Judging that interest burdens would be too heavy based on its own credit rating, the company is reinforcing its rating through bank payment guarantees. Earlier, Korea Ratings, Korea Investors Service, and NICE Investors Service all lowered Lotte Chemical's rating outlook to "negative" last month.
Lotte Chemical returned to profit in the first quarter of this year for the first time in about two years and six months, but the large accumulated losses continue to increase debt pressure. Starting with 2022 (a 762.6 billion won loss), Lotte Chemical's annual losses grew each year, at 391.6 billion won in 2023, 914.5 billion won in 2024, and 943.1 billion won in 2025. The market is watching whether Lotte Chemical can maintain its profit trend through the end of the year. Securities analysts forecast that after posting operating profit of 73.4 billion won in the first quarter, Lotte Chemical will earn 135.6 billion won in the second quarter.
Lotte Chemical, which began as Honam Petrochemical acquired by Lotte Group in the 1970s, grew into a major petrochemical company that joined the "1 trillion won operating profit club" under the leadership of Lotte Group Chairman Dong-bin Shin. But it was hit hard by China's massive facility expansion and a supply glut. Lotte Chemical is aggressively pursuing everything from the sale of overseas non-core assets, including its Pakistan unit, to restructuring domestic petrochemical facilities.
However, its fundamental improvement is analyzed to be gaining little momentum, due to delayed profitability recovery at the Indonesia Line Project, where large-scale investment was made, and weakness at its subsidiary Lotte Energy Materials.
Against this backdrop, attention is focused on whether the business restructuring under way at Lotte Chemical's Daesan petrochemical complex will serve as a catalyst for financial improvement. Once the merger of Lotte Chemical Daesan and HD Hyundai Chemical, scheduled for September, is completed and about 1.6 trillion won in borrowings is transferred to the merged entity, Lotte Chemical's net borrowings ratio, which has exceeded 40%, is expected to improve to around 27%. Observers say management efficiency will also increase through the integration of production facilities such as naphtha cracking centers (NCC) between the two companies.
Securing new businesses through large-scale investment for future growth is also a key to Lotte Chemical's comeback. Investment in new businesses is a breakthrough aimed at transforming Lotte Chemical's business structure toward high-value-added materials with strong growth potential, but it is also a risk factor that adds to financial burdens through enormous capital expenditure. Lotte Chemical has designated advanced materials and hydrogen energy as future businesses and announced a plan to invest about 6 trillion won by 2030. For its materials business, which had been centered on battery materials, the company plans to expand into artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor materials, diversifying its business portfolio to increase the share of specialty materials to 60% of the total.