FCFC to build benzene and PX plant in Mailiao

Taipei, Jan. 29, 2003 (CENS)--Formosa Chemical & Fiber Corp. (FCFC), an affiliate of Taiwan's plastics giant Formosa Plastics Group, will invest over NT$10 billion (US$289.85 million at US$1:NT$34.5) to set up a benzene and paraxylene (PX) plant in Mailiao, Yunlin County.

The plant will be able to make 1.28 million metric tons of PX, a material used to produce purified terephthalic acid (PTA). However, the investment project will have to wait for the establishment of a PTA plant in mainland China and then win approval from the board of directors.

After the completion of its mainland PTA plant, FCFC will need 1.3 million metric tons of PX annually to facilitate its production of PTA in both Taiwan and mainland. Currently, the company's existing PX plant in Taiwan can only turn out 700,000 metric tons of the material per year.

FCFC has not yet disclosed details of the project, but confirmed that it is planning to expand PX output in Taiwan.

FCFC can currently produce 1.5 million metric tons of PTA per year, making it the largest supplier of the material in Taiwan. The company needs about 900,000 metric tons of PX per year to meet its PTA production needs.

Due to a global supply shortage, the spot price of PX has risen to present US$850 per metric ton from US$620 over the past week. The contract price of PX in February reached US$580 per metric ton, the highest level in 13 years.