24 March 2010 11:50 [Source: ICIS news]
SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Taiwan is expected to reduce purified terephthalic acid (PTA) exports to China in April due to intensive shutdown plans, market sources said on Wednesday.
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“We have to shut down the plant for [a biennial] turnaround and this has already been delayed to the due date,” the source said.
The company restarted its No 5 500,000 tonne/year PTA plant at the same site on 18 March after a three-week scheduled turnaround.
“The plant will be shut for about two weeks, and the restart is expected only by the end of March. So we don’t have much March and April cargoes to sell,” said a company source late last week.
Oriental Petrochemical Taiwan, another PTA major in the country, said on Wednesday that it had shut its 400,000 tonne/year PTA line at Kuan Yin, Taoyuan, due to mechanical problems.
“We [will] attempt to restart it today or tomorrow depending on the seriousness of the problem,” the source said.
“Our supplies are tight since we need to supplement our sister company in
Tuntex Petrochemicals’ 440,000 tonne/year PTA plant has been running at 80% since its restart in late February after a week-long maintenance shutdown following a technical outage, a company source said recently.
“We are unable to ramp up the operating rates because some key machinery seemed to have been impaired by that outage,” the source said, adding that the company was considering shutting down the plant in May for three weeks of maintenance.
“Considering these shutdowns, I started to consider accepting offers at $970/tonne CFR [cost and freight]
Sellers had kept to this offer for a week, against bids capped at $960-965/tonne CFR CMP, according to global chemical market intelligence service ICIS pricing.
There are four major PTA producers in