Far Eastern Group to Sink NT$20 B. for Expanding PTA Capacity

Taipei, Feb. 25, 2010 (CENS)--Upbeat about the benefit of cross-Taiwan Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), Far Eastern Group, Taiwan's leading textile manufacturer, plans to invest NT$20 billion to expand its PTA (purified terephthalic acid) capacities on both sides of the Strait.

The expansion calls for the increase of the annual capacity of the PTA plant of Oriental Petrochemical (Taiwan) Co., Ltd., Far Eastern's subsidiary, in Guanyin village of Taoyuan County, in northern Taiwan, to 2.2 million metric tons, up from 1 million, and the PTA plant of Oriental Petrochemical (Shangahi), also a subsidiary of the group, to 1.8 million, up from 600,000.

The investment will be carried out following the outstanding performance of the two plants last year, when they together raked in NT$3 billion pre-tax profit, a record high, partly due to the provision of low-cost upstream material PX (para-xylene) by the group's new PX capacity. The expansion will make Far Eastern the second largest PTA manufacturer in Asia, trailing only Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp.

The expansion of the group differs from the conservative investment policy of other local PTA makers, such as Formosa Chemicals and Fibre and CPACO, due to their lower capacity utilization ratios.