Southeast Asian high-density polyethylene (HDPE) supply has remained tight against a backdrop of heavy scheduled plant maintenances, prompting higher Chinese-origin HDPE offers to emerge in the region.
Major Malaysian polyolefins firm Lotte Titan shut its 220,000 t/yr linear low-density PE- high density PE (LLDPE-HDPE) swing unit and its 115,000 t/yr HDPE unit at Pasir Gudang in late August for planned maintenance, according to sources close to the company. The 220,000 t/yr PE-1 unit, which only produces HDPE, will remain offline for about a month. The restart schedule for the 115,000 t/yr PE-3 HDPE unit is uncertain, while the company's LDPE PE-2 unit is operating at 60-65pc.
Fellow Malaysian producer Petronas Chemicals restarted subsidiary Petlin Malaysia's 255,000 t/yr LDPE unit at Kerteh in late August, after taking it offline in July. The company's 250,000 t/yr LLDPE-HDPE swing unit has also been partially idled, with 125,000 t/yr of HDPE capacity offline, but the restart date could not be confirmed.
Elsewhere in the region, state-owned Thai petrochemical producer PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) took its 300,000 t/yr HDPE line at Map Ta Phut offline in late August because of limited ethylene feedstock from its cracker, and is expected to restart on 9 September, sources close to the company said. PTTGC's polyolefins downstream assets include a 300,000 t/yr LDPE plant, two 400,000 t/yr LLDPE-HDPE swing units and HDPE units with a combined capacity of 850,000 t/yr.
The maintenance plans are expected to reduce southeast Asian HDPE supply, with a combined 760,000 t/yr of nameplate capacity offline in early September. Coupled with rising crude and naphtha values, opportunistic Chinese sellers have started raising HDPE offers into southeast Asia. Sporadic Chinese-origin HDPE film offers emerged at $1,285/t cif Malaysia this week, up from $1,270/t cif Malaysia a week earlier.
Argus assessed duty-free HDPE film prices at $1,200-1,325/t cfr southeast Asia on 28 August, stable from the previous week.
