Petroquim's polypropylene plant to come back on line by August 3 after maintenance

02-Aug-11

Chilean producer Petroquim is expected to restart operations of its 100,000 tpa polypropylene (PP) plant in Concepcion, Chile, by August 3, after a maintenance shutdown that started on July 25, as per Platts. The maintenance shutdown was related to the shutdown due to technical problems at ENAP, Petroquim’s propylene supplier. The shutdown resulted in 60-70% less volumes of polypropylene to offer to the export market in July and August. August Chilean offers to Peru and Ecuador fell by US$50-70/mt to US$1850/mt CFR for homo and US$1950/mt CFR for co-polymer. For the Chilean domestic market, Petroquim dropped offers by US$70/mt for August to US$1900/mt CIF homo raffia, injection and film and at US$2000/mt CFR for random. Falling PP offers were a late reflection of imports coming to the country last month.