Taiwan’s Dairen shuts remaining No 3 VAM line in Mailiao

07 January 2009 10:03  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Taiwan’s Dairen Chemical Corp shut its remaining 350,000 tonne/year No 3 vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) line in Mailiao as planned in late December due to poor market conditions, a company official said on Wednesday.

"We shut the remaining No 3 line in late December instead of operating at a loss," he said in Mandarin.

The producer had shut its 300,000 tonne/year No 2 line at the same site in early October 2008 due to weak demand.

Dairen also has a 120,000 tonne/year No 1 line at Tasheh, but it was mothballed several years ago.

VAM prices in Asia nosedived 49.5% to $680-770/tonne CFR (cost and freight) NE (northeast) Asia as last assessed on 19 December by global chemical market intelligence service ICIS pricing.

This was off January 2008 highs of $1,410-1,460/tonne CFR NE Asia.

For more on VAM visit ICIS chemical intelligence
Please visit the complete ICIS plants and projects database
To discuss issues facing the chemical industry go to ICIS connect

By: Helen Lee
+65 6780 4359

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly