Taiwan CPC restarts naphtha unit to skip spot purchase

Taiwan’s CPC Corp has restarted its No. 4 naphtha cracker at the weekend following a two-week shutdown for repair works, but will skip buying spot naphtha all through the third quarter as it has sufficient stocks, traders said on Monday.

CPC’s 380,000 tonnes per year (tpy) No. 4 cracker is currently running at 85-90 percent of capacity, while its 500,000 tpy No. 5 cracker is operating around 90 percent of capacity.

Despite the two crackers running at high rates, traders said CPC will not buy any spot full-range naphtha as it has sufficient stocks through the third quarter, and possibly even the fourth-quarter.

The last time CPC was in the spot market for full-range naphtha was in early April to buy a 55,000-tonne cargo for second-half May arrival at Kaohsiung.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/16/naphtha-taiwan-cpc-idUSL4E8IG2JU20120716

 

Category: Taiwan