India's FIL to shut PVC line on VCM shortage

14 May 2007 12:17  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Indian polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer Finolex Industries Ltd (FIL) plans to shut down a  PVC line for 15 days due to a shortage of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) feedstock, a company source said on Monday.

 

The 120,000 tonne/year PVC line at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra state will shut from Tuesday 14 May, due to a shortage of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) feedstock, the source said.

 

FIL's second PVC line at the same site, with a capacity of 140,000 tonnes/year, would also undergo maintenance during this period as originally scheduled, he added.

 

PVC supply in India has been tight since the start of the year due to planned and unplanned shutdowns of local plants, and FIL’s plant shutdowns will intensify the tight supply.

 

Limited availability coupled with strong demand in the ongoing peak demand season has resulted in a surge in import prices.

Prices of imported PVC were at $930-950/tonne CFR (cost and freight) India last Friday, $5-15/tonne higher than a month earlier, according to global market intelligence service ICIS pricing.

 

“We were originally planning to keep the first line running, as it had already undergone a turnaround in the first quarter. But we were forced to shut down both plants, as we were short of VCM feedstock due to limited availability of vessel space,” the source said.

 

FIL operates a 140,000 tonne/year VCM plant at Ratnagiri and imports its remaining requirement of the feedstock. The VCM plant, would continue to operate normally during the PVC shutdown, the source said.

 

FIL imports ethylene dichloride (EDC) and ethylene feedstocks for the VCM plant from southeast Asia and the Middle East.

 

The company uses around 30% of its total PVC output captively to feed its downstream PVC pipes plants at Ratnagiri and Pune, which have a combined capacity of 100,000 tonnes/year.

 

The remaining 70% is sold in the domestic market, the source said.

By: Prema Viswanathan
+65 6780 4359

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