S Korea PE, PP exports could resume this weekend

19 June 2008 07:19  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Polyolefins exports from South Korea are likely to return to normal after the brief disruption caused by the nationwide transport strike that started last Friday, local producers said on Thursday.

Korea Petrochemical Industrial Co (KPIC), Daelim Industrial and Hanwha Petrochemical have reached a consensus with their transport companies on transport fee hikes, and were waiting for the unions to agree, company sources said.

"We should be able to start delivering our cargoes from this weekend," a source at Hanwha said.

"We expect the union to announce its decision this Saturday and we hope the issue will be resolved by early next week," a source at Daelim said.

GS Caltex which operates a 180,000 tonne/year PP plant at Yeosu had proposed to raise the transport fee by 24% and was waiting for the local union transport companies to respond, a company source said.

"We expect to know the union’s decision later today or tomorrow morning," he added.

Despite the progress made, uncertainty remained as negotiations between local producers and the unions continued, a source at KPIC said.

"We have agreed with our transport company but we are still facing resistance from the union, so it’s not over yet," he added.

KPIC runs a 360,000 tonne/year PP plant and a 450,000 tonne/year PE line at Ulsan, Daelim Industrial operates a 400,000 tonne/year PE facility in Yeosu, and Hanwha operates PE facilities in Ulsan and Yeosu with a combined capacity of more than 700,000 tonnes/year.

Three other local producers namely SK Energy, Samsung Total and Honam Petrochemical could not be reached for comment.

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By: Chow Bee Lin
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