Taiwan's Oriental Petchem shuts PTA plant on mechanical woes

22 February 2010 04:32  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Oriental Petrochemical Taiwan shut its 400,000 tonne/year purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant at Kuan Yin, Taoyuan on 14 February due to mechanical problems at the unit's material discharging pipe, a company official said on Monday.

The shutdown was expected to last three weeks until early March, the source said.

The company's other 500,000 tonne/year PTA line at the same site was running normally, the source said.

Oriental Petrochemical (Taiwan) is a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Far Eastern Group, which is into polyester, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and textile businesses.

PTA supply from Taiwan would remain tight due to plant shutdowns, Chinese traders said. Offers for Taiwanese have been raised to $970/tonne (€708/tonne) CFR (cost and freight) China Main Port (CMP) on Monday, up $10/tonne from levels before China's week-long holidays.

The Chinese market was closed last week for the Lunar New Year holidays.

($1 = €0.73)

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By: Becky Zhang
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