Lonza Singapore PIA plant to lift force majeure

28 September 2007 03:49  [Source: ICIS news]

By Hong Chou Hui

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Lonza expects to lift the force majeure at its purified isophtalic acid (PIA) plant in Singapore by next week, a source with the Swiss chemical firm said on Friday.

The force majeure was declared on Monday.

“The plant at Jurong Island was shut down on 13 September due to technical problems. We tried a restart on Monday but failed and declared a force majeure on the same day,” the source said.

He said that the plant restarted on Thursday and is currently running at full capacity. If all goes well, the company hoped to lift the force majeure by the middle of next week, he added.

Company officials could not be reached for comment.

Lonza’s Singapore plant has an annual capacity of 70,000 tonnes of PIA and has been acquired by the Perstorp group.  

The deal, which was a bid by Perstorp to widen its product portfolio and strengthen its position in Asia, is expected to be finalised by the end of this year.

The move PIA is a key ingredient in manufacturing performance coatings, unsaturated polyester resins and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle grade chips.

Other major producers of PIA include Japan’s AG International Chemical and Korea’s KP Chemicals.

By: Hong Chou Hui
+65 6780 4359

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