Taiwan's CPC will likely sell 10,000-30,000 mt of isomer-grade mixed xylenes in 2014, as it runs one paraxylene units every other month and keeps the other two PX units shut due to thin margins, a market source said Monday.
CPC has been producing more isomer-MX by using feedstock reformate supplied by its own system, rather than buying it on the spot market. Since early this year, CPC produced 150,000 mt/year of feedstock isomer-MX internally, according to a company source.
The company shut all three of its aromatics plant at Linyuan in southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung in October due to poor PX production margins. In early December, it restarted the No. 2 unit, which can produce 220,000 mt/year of PX and 70,000 mt/year OX.
A company source said Monday that the No. 2 unit would run every other month at 60-70% of capacity, and the two other units would remain shut.
"Taking into account the run rates of the PX unit, and internally available isomer-MX, the selling volume of the isomer-MX would likely be around 10,000-30,000 mt/year," the market source said.
The spread between PX and isomer-MX on a CFR Taiwan basis fell to a three-year low of $160/mt on November 13. Unintegrated PX producers using only isomer-MX to make PX typically need $230/mt to break even.
CPC is a major PX producer in Taiwan with a total nameplate production capacity of 690,000 mt/year across three aromatics plants in Linyuan, sources said. It previously bought isomer-MX, a feedstock for producing PX, on a regular basis via tenders.
But the company will likely become a net exporter of isomer-MX in 2014 instead of a net importer as it has been producing more isomer-MX by using feedstock reformate supplied by its own system.
In 2013, CPC has sold around 36,000 mt of isomer-MX at a discount of $14-30/mt to the Platts monthly average of isomer-MX assessment via five tenders, Platts data showed.
Sources said CPC bought around 60,000 mt of isomer-MX via tenders this year, down from its typical annual purchase volume of 100,000 mt.
The No. 1 unit can produce 220,000 mt/year of PX and 70,000 mt/year of orthoxylene, the No. 2 plant can produce 220,000 mt/year of PX and 70,000 mt/year OX and the the No. 3 plant has a production capacity of 250,000 mt/year of PX and 75,000 mt/year of OX.
