Taiwan’s Formosa to shut Mailiao caustic soda unit for turnaround

09 September 2010 05:52  [Source: ICIS news]

(Recasts 4th paragraph)

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Corp has shut its 790,000 tonne/year caustic soda unit in Mailiao at the end of August for a month of turnaround, a source close to the company said on Thursday.

The company's spot offers to the market would not be expected until at least November or December, the source said.

The plant shutdown of Taiwan's largest chlor-alkali producer could further tighten caustic soda spot supply in the region, according to market players.

Formosa Plastics' 1m tonne/year downstream ethylene dichloride (EDC) production unit was also shut due to the turnaround at the caustic soda plant, the source said.

Its existing EDC inventory level was sufficient to sustain its downstream vinyls operations and any impact to the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production would be minimal, the source added.

The firm also runs an 800,000 tonne/year vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and a 455,000 tonne/year PVC plant at the same site.

Meanwhile, Asian caustic soda prices were assessed at $230-240/dry metric tonne (€182-190/dry metric tonne) (DMT) on 3 September, according to ICIS.

($1 = €0.79)

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By: Aaron Cheong

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