KPChem to cut PET chip output by 30% in Sept

04 September 2007 04:29  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--South Korea's largest polyethylene terephathalic (PET) bottle chip producer, KPChem, will have a 30% cut in its nameplate capacity in September as its plant will shut for six days for checks on its power grid equipment, a company source said on Wednesday.

This also means that it will have shortfall of 10,000 bottle chips.

“Our power supplier, Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO), will be conducting a check on the power grid equipment on our plant’s premises in Ulsan for six days from 11 September,” said the source said.

The reduction in production will reduce supplies of PET bottle chips available and enable the company to maintain margins in a slow month, he added.

He said that the plant would be shut down for the entire six-day duration and production would resume production on 17 September.

KPChem has an annual capacity of 400,000 tonnes of PET bottle chips. The company is offering PET bottle chips for September at $1,300-1,320/tonne FOB (free on board) Korea.

September has always been a transitory lull between the end of the summer peak demand in the northern hemisphere and the onset of the southern hemisphere’s peak summer requirements, the source said.

A check with other Korean PET bottle chip producers in the Ulsan area revealed that they would not be affected by the power checks conducted by KEPCO.

By: Hong Chou Hui
+65 6780 4359

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