Taiwan's petrochemical production is facing further damage as producers introduced rolling power outages around mid-May, while still dealing with prolonged droughts.
On May 13, a power outage at the Kaohsiung Petrochemical Hub Power Plant prompted the adoption of power-saving measures.
The shutdown last week forced the closure of some petrochemical plants, including Taita Chemical and Kaofu Chemical’s polystyrene (PS) plants, both of which have an annual production capacity of 100,000 tons.
Market sources said that Taita's factory is expected to restart sometime this week, while Kaofu's factory may resume production around the end of May. Due to power supply problems, Taiwan's largest petrochemical group Formosa Plastics Group (FPC) shut down its 234,000-ton/year polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant in Kaohsiung from May 18 to 19, causing a short suspension of operations.
In Mai-Liao, another petrochemical base in Taiwan, production is basically not affected by the island-wide power outage, because most factories have their own generators.
Taiwan Power Co. (Taiwan Power Co.) said that since the heat wave started in early May, power supplies are expected to remain tight for most of the next week.
Since the beginning of this month, the temperature in parts of the island has been peaking at around 40 degrees Celsius. According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, the power outage at the Kaohsiung Power Plant was caused by a failure in the communication system of the substation.
Taiwan has also been fighting a prolonged drought-the worst drought in 56 years-as petrochemical producers have restricted the supply of industrial water, which has exacerbated the problems for petrochemical producers. In Taichung, Taiwan’s second largest city, the government shuts down water taps two days a week.
The Taiwanese government stated on May 19 that if there is not a lot of rain at that time, it will tighten water restrictions in Hsinchu and Taichung from June 1.
According to data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the reservoir capacity in central and southern Taiwan is less than 5%.
Source: Chemical Network
