Thai Siam-Mitsui lowers PTA op rates to 70-80%

24 March 2009 09:26  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Southeast Asia’s largest purified terephthalic acid (PTA) producer Siam-Mitsui has again lowered the overall operating rates of its three units at Mab Ta Phut in Thailand to about 70-80% this month from 90% in February, company sources said on Tuesday.

The company had reverted to shutting down its lines intermittently due to uncertainties in the near-term PTA market, the sources added. In 2008, the company had used the strategy of keeping one of the three lines idle at intervals to maintain an overall low production rate.

Siam-Mitsui was running all three lines at 90% of capacity in February on firm demand and improved margins.

"We have already allocated the sales volumes for March to our customers but the demand situation going forward is not clear," said one of the sources.

"We could have produced more but the tight supply of feedstock is also an issue," said another source close to the company.

The source said the company was working on the operating rates for April. "But we will not increase production to 100% due to a combination of feedstock shortage and demand issues," he added.

Siam-Mitsui is a joint venture between Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals and Thai conglomerate, The Siam Cement Group.

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By: Bohan Loh
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