Indonesia's Chandra Asri shut its petrochemical complex for a 30-35 day turnaround, including a 536,000 tpa polyethylene plant.
On Oct. 15, South Korea's Honam Petrochemical was to shut its 370,000 tpa HDPE/LLDPE swing plant in Daesan for a 15-day turnaround. Hanwha Chemical planned to idle at least a third of its 335,000 tpa linear low-density polyethylene capacity for technical tests starting Oct. 18.
Taiwan's Formosa Plastics was operating at reduced rates of around 70-80% of capacity due to a lack of ethylene feedstock from supplier Formosa Petrochemicals. FPC's No. 3 steam cracker was expected to resume operations later in the week from a turnaround that started in mid-August.
Despite the shutdowns and supply cuts, the Asian PE market remained lackluster. Some participants had expected demand to pick up after China's week-long National Day holidays, but buyers did not rush back to restock.
