Taiwan's Formosa Plastics will restart its 260,000 mt/year linear low density polyethylene unit in Mailiao by Friday amid a feedstock shortage, a company source said Wednesday.
"We need to restart it to fulfill domestic demand," said the source. "But we don't know how long we will run it."
The LLDPE unit was shut in August due to the cut in ethylene feedstock.
The company's 350,000 mt/year high density polyethylene unit is running at 50% operating rate due to the lack of ethylene.
Formosa is grappling with a feedstock shortage. Its ethylene supplier, Formosa Petrochemicals Corp, is only running one of three steam crackers.
Its No. 1 cracker was shut on May 12 following an LPG pipeline fire, while its No. 3 cracker is undergoing annual maintenance since mid-August. The No. 1 cracker is expected to restart this week, while the No. 3 cracker will restart at the end of September.
The No. 1 unit, which is able to produce 700,000 mt/year of ethylene and 350,000 mt/year of propylene. The No. 3 cracker is able to produce 1.2 million mt/year of ethylene and 600,000 mt/year of propylene.
Meanwhile, the No.2 unit, which is still running, is able to produce 1.03 million mt/year of ethylene and 515,000 mt/year of propylene.
