Philippines' JG Summit to run PE plant until Sep on good margins

Chemical News: Philippines' JG Summit to run PE plant until Sep on good margins

https://www.chemnet.com Aug 11,2010
Philippines' JG Summit is expected to continue running its 200,000mt/year high-density polyethylene/linear low-density polyethylene swing plant in Batangas until September on the back of good production margins, a company source said Tuesday.

The company is a non-integrated producer that buys ethylene feedstock on a spot basis.

JG Summit idled its plant earlier this year based on poor production margins. It was shut April 23 and was restarted July 7 after the company secured a spot ethylene cargo.

The company secured another ethylene cargo "three to four weeks ago" and received delivery of the feedstock, the source said. He added that the plant is running at about 50%.

The source said most of the material produced will be sold to the domestic market, at an average of $1,200/mt CFR Southeast Asia for HDPE and $1,220/mt CFR Southeast Asia for LLDPE.

Platts assessed ethylene on July 12 on a CFR Southeast Asia basis at $799/mt. With a conversion cost of $150/mt for a non-integrated producer, the break-even cost typically will be about $949/mt.

Print | add to Favorites | Close