Daiso to debottleneck Matsuyama ECH plant

18 September 2007 07:42  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Daiso Chemical, Japan’s largest epichlorohydrin (ECH) producer, plans to shut its 15,000 tonne/year facility in Matsuyama, Ehime prefecture, for a debottleneck at the end of October, a company official said on Tuesday.

The unit would be shut for around one month and the plant capacity was expected to be raised by 5,000 tonnes/year to 20,000 tonnes/year, he added.

The unit was shut in July for a month-long annual maintenance but the source said no debottlenecking work was carried out during that period.

Daiso has no plans to expand its other 35,000 tonne/year ECH facility in Mizushima, Okayama prefecture, which will be shut in March 2008 for a month-long turnaround.

Both units are running at 95% capacity but the official has ruled out exports.

"Currently, we are building up inventories and we don’t have extra availability for export," he said.

Healthy domestic demand kept domestic prices in Japan stable at yen (Y) 250/kg ($2.2/kg) delivered (DEL) in September.

($1 =Y115.17)

By: Liu Xin
+65 6780 4359

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