China’s Maoming to shut PE/PP to free up feedstock

09 August 2006 08:30  [Source: ICIS news]

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--Maoming Petrochemical, part of Chinese energy major Sinopec, plans to shut all of its polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) plants in southern China in the second half of August for about a month to free up feedstock for its new polymer plants, company sources said on Wednesday.

Due to the late start up of Maoming’s new 420,000 tonnes/year cracker, which is supposed to feed ethylene and propylene to the two new lines, the company had to shut the existing PE/PP lines instead, a company source said. The new cracker will start up on 8 September, delayed by almost a month, market sources added.

Maoming’s three plants - a 110,000 tonnes/year low-density PE (ldPE), a 170,000 tonnes/year high-density PE (hdPE)/linear low-density PE (lldPE) swing line and a 170,000 tonnes/year PP line, will be shut in order for the feedstock to be diverted for the startup of two new lines.

The new PE/PP plants, a 350,000 tonnes/year hdPE line and a 300,000 tonnes/year PP line, are due to come on stream on 20 August.

Maoming plans to expand its total cracker capacity by 25% to 1m tonnes/year ethylene by next year, a company source said. The company is also building a 250,000 tonnes/year ldPE unit that will start up in the first quarter of 2007.

Maoming’s distributors have raised prices by CNY400-450/tonne from last week to CNY13,900/tonne for ldPE and CNY13,450/tonne for lldPE, both ex-warehouse south China.

By: Rena Gu
+65 6780 4356

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly