China’s Hualian Sunshine shuts down PTA plant

06 October 2008 10:01  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--China’s largest non-integrated purified terephthalic acid (PTA) maker Zhejiang Hualian Sunshine Petrochemical has shut down operations at its 1.8m tonnes/year plant in Shaoxing, sources close to the company said.

 

As early as last week, talk in the market indicated the company had shut down all three of its production lines at a time when feedstock paraxylene (PX) costs were considerably higher than PTA.

 

“We were not told anything by the usual sales channels, their sales staff know as much as we do,” said a Ningbo-based polyester producer which offtakes part of its PTA from Hualian Sunshine with regards to the cuts in supply.

 

Neighbouring fibre intermediates plants around Hualian Sunshine added that there had been a lack of activity at the plant since the middle of last week.

 

“Not even smoke coming out from its chimneys,” said one source from polyester yarn producer Southern Holdings, which is nearby the Hualian Sunshine plant.

 

In related news, shares of one of Hualian Sunshine’s owners, Hualian Holdings, have been suspended on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Monday.

 

Hualian Holdings, also known as China Union Developing Group, owns 35% of Hualian Sunshine, while Jiabaili Textile and Zhanwang Enterprise each own 24.5%, while Huaxi Group owns the remaining 16%.

 

Yu Guo, Bohan Loh and Dolly Wu has contributed to this article 

By: Salmon Aidan Lee
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