Japan’s Tosoh VCM lines in Nanyo unlikely to restart soon

20 December 2011 07:48  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Japan’s Tosoh is unlikely to restart its three VCM lines at Nanyo anytime soon, even though more than a month had passed since an explosion shut the units down, a company source said on Tuesday.

The company’s VCM facility at the site consists of a 250,000 tonne/year No 1 line, a 550,000 tonne/year No 2 line and a 400,000 tonne/year No 3 line. The explosion on 13 November occurred at the No 2 line.

“We have set up an investigation committee and we are still deciding on a course of action,” the source said.

The company has no plan to restart any of the VCM lines in December, the source said, adding that it is “difficult to restart in January”.

There were expectations earlier on that the No 1 line, the smallest of the three, may resume production by end-December or sometime in January.

Tosoh is unable to provide a concrete restart schedule for its VCM lines and could only indicate that the No 3 line will take a longer time to restart compared to the No 1 line, the company source said.

As for the No 2 line, which was severely damaged by the explosion, Tosoh is considering doing some restructuring, which could alter the production capacity of the unit once it comes back on stream, the source said.

Market sources speculate that the No 2 line would be down for at least a year.

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By: Feliana Widjaja

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