APIC ’08: Taiwan petchems face difficult 2008
27 May 2008 06:53 [Source: ICIS news]
SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Taiwan’s petrochemical industry, which saw phenomenal growth in 2007, could face a downturn in 2008 due to increasing competition from the Middle East, China and India, the Petrochemical Industry Association of Taiwan (PIAT) said in a report on Tuesday.
In the report presented at the Asian Petrochemical Industry Conference 2008 (APIC), PIAT highlighted the continued strong demand from countries like China, which had helped most petrochemical producers maintain their margins despite the surge in feedstock crude prices in 2007, it added.
The report also said that ethylene posted a 26.9% increase in production to reach a record 3.67m tonnes attributing most of the growth to the completion and start-up of the fourth phase expansion project of Formosa Petrochemical’s NC6 complex.
Production of upstream chemicals propylene, butadiene, benzene and toluene posted growth of between 32-36%.
Ethylene demand also grew 24.3% in line with the improved production numbers while benzene and toluene posted demand growth of 40.3% and 48.3% respectively.
Looking ahead, expanding petrochemical capacities in the Middle East, China and India could act as a barrier to Taiwan’s continued growth, PIAT said
The passing of the amendment to the Energy Management Act, aimed at improving energy saving and efficiency last year, could bring in more uncertainty to the implementation of petrochemical projects in the future, PIAT added.
Taiwanese petrochemical producers could expect a further squeezing of margins due to the continuing surge in crude prices.
The APIC conference runs from Tuesday through Wednesday
ICIS and The Chemical Daily have produced an official 84-page, special publication on Asian petrochemicals for the APIC event
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By: Bohan Loh
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