Chile’s sole PP maker to resume production in June

27 May 2010 18:04  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Chile’s sole polypropylene (PP) producer, Petroquim, expects to restart homopolymer production in mid June, with material ready to sell by the end of that month, a manager said on Thursday.

Exports of homopolymers would start in mid-July, when sufficient stocks are built, said Alfonso Silva, Petroquim commercial manager.

Petroquim expects to have ethylene for copolymers production in mid-July, after a plant is restarted by the local refiner, Empresa Nacional del Petroleo (ENAP), Silva said.

Copolymers for the domestic market should be available in early August, with copolymer stocks for exports scheduled for the end of that month, the source said.

In the meantime, Petroquim has relied on regional imports to keep its clients supplied. Imports from Asia have been discontinued because of declining prices in the US Gulf, Silva said.

The Petroquim facility in Talcahuano has a nominal production capacity of 150,000 tonnes/year.

The plant stopped operations following a strong earthquake on 27 February. Damage was minimal, but the lack of feedstock propylene kept the plant down.

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By: George Martin
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