Japan’s Tosoh restarts No 1 VCM line after prolonged shutdown

08 May 2012 10:24  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Japan’s Tosoh Corp has successfully restarted its No 1 vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) line at Nanyo on Tuesday after being shut for nearly six months, a company source said.

The 250,000 tonne/year No 1 VCM line is currently running at around 20-30% of capacity, and is expected to ramp up to full production by the end of the week, the source said.

The No 1 VCM line had been shut since an explosion occurred at Nanyo on 13 November 2011, together with the company’s 400,000 tonne/year No 3 line and its 550,000 tonne/year No 2 line.

Tosoh aims to restart its No 3 VCM line by end-June or early July, while it has not decided on the fate of its No 2 line, which was severely damaged by the explosion in November last year, the source said.

With just one of the three VCM lines in Nanyo running, Tosoh could only supply to the domestic market in Japan and to its downstream polyvinyl chloride (PVC) subsidiaries in China, Indonesia and the Philippines, according to the source.

Tosoh had been selling spot VCM cargoes from Nanyo, mainly to China, prior to the shutdown of the lines.

The company also operates a 260,000 tonne/year VCM facility at Yokkaichi, which is running at full rate, the source said.

By: Feliana Widjaja

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