S Korea's KPX to shut one Yeosu TDI line on poor demand

13 July 2010 11:20  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--South Korea’s producer KPX Fine Chemical plans to shut one of its toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) facility in Yeosu on 20 July for 10-15 days in order to control its inventory while prices of the material are low in Asia, a company source said on Tuesday.

The company has two lines with a nameple capacity of 50,000 tonnes/year each.

“Business has been bad since our plant restarted in end May, so we have to decrease our inventories by shutting our plant for a short period of time,” he said.

Spot TDI prices were discussed on 13 July at $2,380-2,500/tonne (€1,880-1,975/tonne) CFR (cost and freight) CMP (China Main Port)/Hong Kong, up $40/tonne on the low end from last week, market sources said.

Limited July quantities were sold by KPX at $2,400/tonne CFR CMP/Hong Kong earlier this month.

KPX set the tentative shutdown duration at up to 15 days, but if prices failed to recover to $2,500/tonne CFR CMP/Hong Kong or higher, the company might consider to lengthen the shutdown period or shut the second TDI line, the company source said.

“Although TDI prices has rebounded slightly since last Thursday, we are not sure how long this will last. So, we will go ahead with our plans,” he added.

Other TDI producers in Asia include Mitsui Chemicals and BASF.

($1 = €0.79)

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By: Ong Sheau Ling
+65 6780 4359

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