S Korea's Sam Nam to shut two terephthalic acid units on 18 June

15 June 2012 03:50  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--South Korea’s Sam Nam Petrochemical will be halting production at two of its four terephthalic acid plants in Yeosu from 18 June to stem its losses, a company source said on Friday.

The shutdown of the 350,000 tonne/year No 1 qualified terephthalic acid (QTA) plant and its No 2 purified terephthalic acid (PTA) with the same capacity will be around two weeks, the source said.

Sam Nam’s four terephthalic acid plants at Yeosu – three PTA units and one QTA unit – have a combined capacity of 1.8m tonnes/year. The units are currently running at 90% of capacity since 1 June, the source said.

The plants’ run rate was cut this month from 100% previously as the company’s margins are being squeezed because of falling PTA prices.

Spot PTA prices in Asia have shed around 19-20% over five weeks, in tandem with steep declines in crude futures, according to ICIS data.

Sam Nam expects production losses of around 50,000 tonnes in June, the company source said.

The company is a joint venture between Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical (40%) and South Korean companies Samyang Petrochemical (40%) and GS-Caltex Oil (20%).

By: Becky Zhang
+65 6780 4359

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