Maintenance at eight Asian PTA plants to benefit Taiwan

12 Apr '11

2 min read

Taiwan's PTA industry is hopeful to benefit from the scheduled annual maintenance by eight big pure terephthalic acid (PTA) plants of Asia this year.

As the maintenance is expected to take place during the peak season for textile industry, shortage pressure will increase, resulting in benefits to Taiwan's supply situation. These eight plants produce seven million tons of PTA annually.

At present, production capacity of polyester fiber in China is approximately 30 million tons, while PTA production capacity is just 19 million tons. Due to this gap, a shortage of supply prevails for most of the time.

China has to import considerably from various countries to ease this demand and supply gap. At present it imports mainly from these big players. Due to their annual maintenance program, In this situation, China will have to weigh other options to cater its needs. As Taiwan is one of the better options, it will be benefited maximum.

As per projections by Taiwan's industry, the second quarter is the peak season for shipment of the textile industry. During this period, demand for raw materials from polyester fiber plants in the mainland is expected to increase.

Due to increased interest rates and other measures by local authorities, the industry has been compelled to reduce operating rate this season. As a result, PTA price came down to US $1,460 per ton in the previous week after a record new high of US $ 1,525 per ton.

Fibre2fashion News Desk

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