Taiwan’s FCFC to restart Mailiao SM unit 3

03 September 2008 04:25  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news) -- Formosa Chemicals and Fibre’s Corp (FCFC), Taiwan’s largest producer of styrene monomer (SM), plans to restart its 600,000 tonne/year Mailiao facility by the middle of September, a company source said on Wednesday.

The restart process for the plant would be initiated this week after being taken offline in end-July for a scheduled maintenance. The Mailaio No. 3 unit is expected to be fully operational next week, the source added.

Formosa Chemicals operates two other SM plants in Mailiao, having capacities of 250,000 tonne/year and 350,000 tonne/year.

The company plans to shut the 250,000 tonne/year unit for the rest of September when the 600,000 tonne/year SM plant comes onstream.

Persistently poor demand and thin margins have been plaguing Asian producers since the start of the third quarter, prompting regional suppliers to cut back operating rates to combat mounting stocks.

Two other SM producers in Taiwan are Taiwan Styrene Monomer Corp (TSMC) and Grand Pacific Petrochemical Corp (GPPC).

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By: Clive Ong
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