Taekwang to shut ACN unit in Oct for turnaround

12 September 2008 05:33  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--South Korean acrylonitrile (ACN) producer Taekwang Industrial will go ahead with the turnaround of its 250,000 tonne/year plant in Ulsan due to very weak downstream demand, market sources said on Friday.

The ACN plant will be shut from October 6 onwards for 28 days, market sources said, but this could not be confirmed with the supplier.

Earlier, the producer had mulled postponing the turnaround until early 2009 but had decided against it just last week due to weak derivative acrylic fibres and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) demand.

Propylene production at its upstream 250,000 tonnes/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit will continue running, which will release an excess of 15,000-20,000 tonnes additional propylene spot cargoes into the market, traders said.

This has added to downward pressure on propylene prices, which have fallen considerably in the past few days.

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By: Steve Tan
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