Maeil Economic Daily September 26, 2003SK chemicals Co, Ltd. (CEO: Ji-Ho Hong) announced on Sep. 25 it had developed ?SKYBON EW312,? an environmentally-friendly water based coating material. The water-based coating product developed by the company is a material forming a thin film on the surface of packing container, which is used as the final coating material for various prints. The SKYBON Team manager, We-Jin Kim, explained, ?The existing oil coating material contains some ingredients harmful to the human body and environment, such as toluene; thus, advanced countries are intensifying restrictions on its use.? He added, ?However, the water based coating is an environmentally-friendly product, which does not use toluene.? Team manager, Kim also mentioned, ?Major domestic bakery firms including Bbanggoomteo are adopting the water based coating product of SK chemicals, while Crown Bakery is currently reviewing he use of our product.? He said SK chemicals would expand its new product?s application scope to all skin contacting products in addition to printing packing materials. The domestic packing materials market with the size of around KRW 10 billion is currently dominated by oil based coating products containing toluene (over 90%). The advanced countries, however, such as the US and Europe, are restricting the use of oil based coating products under 60% in coating products market.